Brick producers hit back at claims that shortage is holding back house building

A ROW about bricks has broken out in the construction industry, as figures revealed the number of homes completed stuttered in the past quarter.

The Brick Development Association hit out at claims by the National Association of Estate Agents that there is an acute brick shortage.

A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research said the alleged shortage meant the UK could not meet the “growing demand to plug [the] 264,000 housing deficit”. The NAEA added that Brexit would make it worse because material needed to create bricks is imported from the EU.

However, Andrew Eagles, of the BDA, said: “This is a lazy analysis. The BDA represents 99pc of the brick manufacturers in the UK. We can report with absolute authority that there is no shortage.” Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in the second quarter, sales of bricks were 10.4pc higher than in the first quarter, and stocks of bricks were 39.9pc higher than the same period last year.

The CEBR said 1.4 billion bricks were needed to rectify the building shortfall – the difference between the increase in households and dwelling stock in the past decade. It said official estimates stated the stock of bricks at 628 million.

Figures from the ONS revealed that the number of homes completed in the three months to June fell by 2pc compared with the same quarter last year.