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Michelmersh warns brick shortage will hit housebuilding

Brickmaker says brick levels at two months’ supply to builders is lowest in memory

The FMB have said that the reason for the brick shortage is because manufacturers mothballed kilns during a drop in sales during the recession
Martin Warner, chief executive of Michelmersh Brick, said: “Every brick we can make is being sold straight away. I am seeing the lowest brick stocks in living memory across the UK.” Credit: Photo: Peter Huggins/ Alamy

The boss of the largest listed brick maker in Britain, Michelmersh, has warned that stocks of the vital building blocks are at the lowest level in living memory.

Martin Warner, chief executive of Michelmersh Brick, said: “Every brick we can make is being sold straight away. I am seeing the lowest brick stocks in living memory across the UK.”

Stock piles of bricks dipped to 338m at the end of April, down almost a third from 500m at the same stage last year, after stocks of more than 1bn were recorded in 2009.

Stocks of bricks are at the lowest levels for almost five years, the latest report from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, and the Office for National Statistics showed.

The current stocks can now only cover about two months’ supply to the building industry.

The shortage of bricks could put the brakes on the vital housebuilding needed to ease the nation’s property price bubble, or at the very least steadily increase the costs for housebuilders.

“We are starting to get some price recovery in bricks after five years of stagnation,” added Mr Warner.

The price of bricks has risen by about 8pc during the past 12 months, data from the joint report showed.

This followed a four-year period from 2009 when the price of bricks increased by an average of 2pc a year.

The disclosure on the shortage of critical building materials comes just a week after it was revealed that a shortage of apprentices in the construction industry could hamper Britain’s economic recovery.

A cross-party commission was launched on July 1 to examine the situation after the Construction Industry Training Board found that the building industry needs 120,000 apprentices over the next five years to fill an emerging skills gap.