Property boom hopes lift UK housebuilders Predictions of a new property boom helped lift housebuilders to five-year highs. Bellway , Persimmon and Barratt Developments all rose to pre-credit crunch levels after JP Morgan Cazenove forecast that mortgage subsidies, the centrepiece of last week's Budget, would trigger a jump in activity and prices, particularly for the lower end of the London market. "We estimate that there are 1m first-time buyers who have failed to buy since 2008, because of constrained mortgage market conditions," the broker told clients. Of those if even half find funding and attempt to buy over the next three years, we would see a 27 per cent increase in housing demand. JP Morgan forecast national house price inflation of 5 per cent in 2015 and 2016, with London accelerating from the current 10 per cent level. Every percentage point of house price inflation adds about 0.8 per cent to housebuilders" gross margins, it said. The prospect of "super-margins across the sector" led JP Morgan to turn positive on Bellway, which jumped 4.6 per cent to £12.97. It also recommended buying Taylor Wimpey , up 3 per cent to 90.9p, and Berkeley Group , up 1.4 per cent to £20.41. Persimmon rose 2.9 per cent to £10.69 and Barratt gained 2.4 per cent to 274.1p. The FTSE ended Thursday up 0.4 per cent or 24.18 points at 6,411.74. That gave the index its biggest quarterly gain since 2010, with an 8.7 per cent advance over the three months. Tate & Lyle led Thursday's blue-chip risers, up 3 per cent to 850p, on a reassuring fourth-quarter trading update. The key positive was that sales of Sucralose, Tate's sugar substitute that provides about a fifth of its earnings, had returned to normal levels after a poor third quarter. Johnson Matthey gained 2.2 per cent to £23.00 after announcing the purchase of Formox, a Swedish chemical catalyst business, for £107m in cash. Morgan Stanley called it a "sensible and logical deal" that would boost earnings per share by 2.5 per cent next year, but did nothing to ease concerns about auto industry demand following last week's profit warning from Lanxess. InterContinental Hotels rose 2.8 per cent to £20.07 on news it had completed the sale of its Park Lane hotel much sooner than expected, with Qatar-based Constellation Hotels agreeing to pay $457m, or slightly more than $1000 per room. "The group is part way through its $500m buyback and we think this disposal gives ample scope to repeat that buyback which should more than offset any [earnings] dilution," said Citigroup. National Grid took on 1.9 per cent to 765p after setting out a policy of dividend growth at least in line with inflation for the "forseeable future." The unscheduled statement also said trading was modestly ahead of previous expectations. Fears of a share overhang pushed Reckitt Benckiser 1.2 per cent lower to £47.18. JAB, the investment firm run by former Reckitt chief Bart Becht, may have to cut its 10.5 per cent stake in the group to fund a €7.2bn bid for DE Master Blenders. Antofagasta was down 4 per cent to 984p after saying overnight that it would restart work at the Antucoya copper mine in Chile, which had been mothballed three months ago. The group's revised plan outlined a total budget of $1.9bn to start production in 2015, which raised concerns that the investment costs may require a dividend cut. Investors also speculated that Antofagasta's decision may have been forced by Marubeni, the Japanese trading company that agreed to buy 30 per cent of the project in December 2011. "Despite the $500m spent on the project to date, most investors breathed a sigh of relief at the news of the suspension given the marginal (at best) economics of the project," said Macquarie. Most investors assumed the project would be terminated. It will therefore come as an unwelcome surprise to many that not only is the project being resumed, but it will now cost $200m more to build, will cost more to mine and will be delayed by 6-12 months.