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Investor's Business Daily - Sales of existing homes unexpectedly rose in February for the first time in seven months, suggesting that falling home prices and bigger mortgages with better rates have unleashed pent-up demand.

Ministers intend to take steps to counter a threat by property developers to leave buildings unfinished in an attempt to dodge an impending increase in business rates.The measures, which are due to be announced this week, pit the Government against increasingly angry commercial developers - as the Treasury tries to raise an additional £1 billion in business rates from buildings that are unoccupied.John Healey, the Local Government Minister, will ask local councils to make better use of existing powers, including forcing developers to speed up the completion of building works so that they cannot dodge taxes by leaving buildings incomplete.Owners of unoccupied commercial property currently pay little or no business rates but the Government is planning to cut the existing reliefs from next month. That prospect prompted Ian Coull, the chief executive of Segro, to threaten to leave the roof off new unlet developments to avoid the rates bill.Mr Healey told The Ti