Running out of bricks

The making of bricks in Britain has fallen to the point where the country has the equivalent of only about two months' of supply in stock, an industry leader has warned. The head of Michelmersh Brick Holdings said that a "difficult five years" meant that brick stock levels had fallen from 1.1bn bricks to 332m. Martin Warner, chief executive of the AIM-listed company, said that a lot of capacity had been taken out of the industry during the recession and now it was trying to cope with rapidly rising demand from housebuilders.

Osborne faces call to overhaul stamp duty

The Chancellor is facing calls to overhaul stamp duty amid claims that revenues will rise to £15bn and a warning that it is "punishing aspirational Britain". The Taxpayers’ Alliance figures claim that receipts will rise in real terms from £9bn this year to £15bn in five years' time, an increase of 73%. A 3% rate on properties worth £250,000 or more was introduced in 2000. According to Savills, if stamp duty had kept pace with house-price inflation, it would now stand at £500,000. Conservative MP Henry Smith said that he wanted to see thresholds increase “significantly” to help families trying to buy a house. He said: "Many average home buyers are now finding themselves subject to quite significant stamp duty rates." Meanwhile, the EY ITEM club says in its pre-Budget briefing today that there is a strong argument for indexing the thresholds to rise in line with inflation or house prices. The Times, Page: 2

Buyer numbers levelling off

The growth in the number of would-be buyers in the housing market started to slow down last month as recent surges in interest began to level off, according to a report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). But it warned the slowdown might be temporary, due to the impact of flooding on parts of the country in January and February, and that further price rises could be expected. The Guardian, Page: 28 The Herald, Page: 9

Interest rates to rise

Interest rates will rise six-fold by 2017 as Britain's economy becomes one of the fastest growing in the developed world, Mark Carney the Governor of the Bank of England said yesterday. The increase to more "normal" levels is likely to put many borrowers into financial difficulty. Brokers are expecting a rush of borrowers wanting to fix their mortgages. Separately, Mr Carney admitted he has no direct control over soaring house prices in prime central London. He told MPs that the Bank did not have the “tools” to dampen the market in the capital’s affluent central boroughs, which was driven by cash buyers, many of them from abroad. The Daily Telegraph, Page: 1 Evening Standard, Page: 2, 4

Business rates reform needed

MPs on the BIS Business Select Committee have called on the Government to make radical reforms to the business rates system in order to help retailers and local economies. The MPs argue in a report that the tax is no longer fit for purpose and that there should be an examination of whether retail taxes should instead be based on the value of sales. The report also suggests a separate system of business taxation for the retail sector. Adrian Bailey, the committee’s chairman, said: “Since the system was created, the retail environment has changed beyond all recognition. A system of business taxation based on physical property is simply no longer appropriate in an increasingly online retail world.” The British Retail Consortium and Bill Grimsey both welcomed the report. The BRC’s director-general Helen Dickinson commented: “This report must be the final nail in the coffin of the question: Do business rates need to be reformed? They do. Business thinks so. A committee of Parliament thinks so. We very much hope the government will think so too.” Mr Grimsey added: “How many more reports like this do we need before ministers finally wake up to the problems they’re storing up by continuing with a system that’s simply not fit for purpose?” Financial Times, Page: 2