Various reports suggest that some businesses may face rates rises of up to 30% on the back of the property boom, leading to soaring rental values which are used to calculate the rateable values of commercial property. The average rise is 13.3%, but some small shops have been hit by rises of up to 30%.

Despite an overall slowdown in the UK property market, house prices in the west of Scotland continued to rise during the first quarter of this year..
A recent report by the Glasgow Solicitors' Property Centre revealed that property prices had increased by an average £7000 since January 1 - and by £12,000 from this time last year.

Dawn Warnock, area director for Glasgow at Slater, Hogg and Howison, said: "We are delighted with this year's results so far. We didn't think this year would have started so well and it bodes well for the rest of 2005.

"As the GSPC has found, the outlying areas, particularly Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, are growing well so far this year, as well as the steady increase in greater Glasgow."

According to the GSPC, the house price inflation rate in west central Scotland now stands at 12.8%, down from 13.2% at the end of 2004 and well down on the 22.1% recorded at the start of 2004.

A correlation exists between Elections and the Housing Market according to Propertyfinder. The website has analysed the housing market over each of the last five general elections and found that the political cycle has a marked effect.

For each election, house prices were markedly weaker ahead of the election, either showing slower growth or greater falls in prices. By the time the election actually came, the housing market strengthened significantly with prices either rising faster or falling more slowly.

Jim Buckle, Managing Director of propertyfinder.com said: 'Elections have a distinct effect on the housing market. There is no real logic to this, but house-buyers and sellers clearly hold back from taking the plunge until a new government is back in Westminster. We believe that 2005 is no different. The pre-election blues are definitely affecting the market at present, but whoever is elected, we expect a modest recovery in prices in the next three months as well as a slower rate of decline in housing transaction volumes.'

While the number of mortgages is now rising, the number of people taking out equity release mortgages has fallen according to the Bank of England.

Bank of England's report figures show that in February 85,000 new home loans were taken out, the highest number for five months.

In the last three months of 2004 mortgage equity withdrawal fell to £6.9 billion - down from £11.3 billion the previous quarter and £16.8 billion from the previous year.

Gordon Brown has pledged to push up home ownership from 70% to 75%, by creating 1m new homeowners during the next Parliament.

As part of Labour's election campaign, Mr Brown has turned his attention to young people trying to get on the housing ladder, a crucial political constituency.

With the number of households in England expected to rise from 21m to 24m in the next 15 years, Mr Brown outlines measures to help those trying to break into the property market.

He reveals the sites for the building of a range of £60,000 starter homes and announces the transfer of 100 surplus NHS sites for the building of 15,000 homes for first-time buyers.