Property asking prices have fallen this month, according to a new report, which partly attributed this decline to the distorting impact of home information packs (Hips). The average asking price has decreased by 3.2 per cent to £232,396 in December, figures from property website Rightmove indicated, while the annual rate of growth has also slowed from 7.9 to 4.8 per cent. Christmas is usually a sluggish period for the market, but the study also claimed that the rollout of Hips to all properties last week exacerbated the decline, with the proportion of homes for sale with two bedrooms or fewer rising to 48 per cent ahead of this deadline.