As reported by The Telegraph, the British Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says next month's Budget should slash the amount of VAT people pay on repair and maintenance work on their homes in an effort to boost the struggling construction sector. RICS argues that the VAT rise will encourage tax avoidance since more building jobs will be done by cash in hand which could put homeowners more at risk of getting tangled up with "cowboy builders". The impact of the new rate of the sales tax has the potential to cost up to 34,000 construction jobs by 2019, according to RICS' calculations. The demand was among those laid out by RICS in its pre-Budget submission to the Treasury, which aims to encourage growth in the housing and commercial property sectors. Mark Goodwin, director of external affairs at RICS, said: "This Budget provides the Government with a chance to encourage growth and innovation in construction and property, providing much needed jobs, tackling the housing shortage and ensuring that businesses have a continuing supply of high-quality premises." In Britain to struggle with VAT high percentage was launched a special coalition called Cut the VAT Coalition, that includes more than twenty professional institutions and public organizations. Cut the VAT Coalition believes, that reducing the VAT from 17.5% to 5%t for maintenance and home improvement work would help to create around 51,000 new jobs in the construction and property industry and improve the quality of housing in the UK. The 5% VAT on this works is also recommended by European directives (1999/85/EC; 2006/112/EC). Despite the struggle for VAT reduction, to fight against huge budget deficit for 2011, British Government raise the VAT for home improvements from 17.5% to 20%. But the RICS calculations and recommendations, which is the world's leading professional body for qualifications and standards in land, property and construction, now forcing government to take urgent tax relief actions already in March. In addition to all the difficulties in the UK economy, 2010 government figures reveal house building completions at lowest level for 88 years. Completions fell to their lowest level since 1923, just 102,570 homes were completed in England in 2010, down 13% on 2009.

The most important feature of economic policy of China is the competent national approach to the development of the country's economy and constant concern about the competitiveness of country's goods in the global economy market. China's resent decision to set up a mega-city in the south-east of the country is the continuation and the evidence of this policy. Metropolis will include 9 cities (the largest is Guangzhou-11. 7mln. population) with total population of almost 48 million and approximately 41.440 square kilometers area (16000 sq. miles) that is geographically 26 times larger than Greater London, or twice the size of Wales. The government intends to merge these cities into a single "urban area" and plans 150 infrastructure projects at a cost of more than $ 300 billions over the next six years to combine the transport, electricity, communications and water systems of these cities. During these years additional 29 new rail lines, totaling 5000 km (3100 miles), will be added, cutting rail journeys around the urban area to a maximum of one hour between different cities. According to planners, phone bills could also fall by 85 per cent and hospitals and schools will be improved. A similar project is also carried out between Beijing and Tianjin- the two very important cities in China. This super-urban area with a population of 260 million people and GDP annual growth rate of nearly 30% is known as the Bohai Economic Rim. 285 companies form Fortune Global 500 has already opened their representative offices in Bohai region. High-speed railway between the cities is already under construction and total investments in infrastructure projects over the next five tears will total trillion dollars. By the end of the decade, China plans to move ever greater numbers into its cities, creating some city zones with 50 million to 100 million people and "small" city clusters of 10 million to 25 million.

The youngest billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook social network, and his girlfriend Priscilla Chan rent a house with a monthly payment in Palo Alto, CA near the headquarter of the famous company. Zuckerberg house was built in 2002, has an area of 353 square meters (3800 square feet), 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Clearly, Zuckerberg can afford to build or buy the most expensive luxurious house, what really seemed to stem the move, is the location. Now, Zuckerberg lives only a few steps away from Facebook Headquarters. This surely comes in handy since he reportedly spends as much as 16 hours a day at the office and comes home only to sleep. Mark clearly does not want to change the neighborhood and prefers to live as close as possible to his "working nest", as he previously also rented a house in the same area. His previous house was smaller- only 183.5 square meters (1.976 square feet), also had 4 bathrooms, but the number of bedrooms were only 3, and besides it was much further- seven blocks away from workplace. The young billionaire even allowed Oprah's (57-year-old American billionaire actress best known for her talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show", the World's Most Powerful Celebrity on Forbes' 2010 celebrity list and the Most Influential Person in Show Business in 2009.) camera crew inside his home for an exclusive look at his modest dwelling place and office. (watch video)However, not only Zuckerberg surprises everyone with his quirks. For example, David Packard, the billionaire and co-founder of Hewlett-Packard lived and died at his 139 square meters (1,500 square feet) home also near Palo Alto. Another well-known IT-mogul Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and one of the richest people in the world, until 2006 lived in a simple three-room apartment, until he married ... That is how live people, who are fully devoted to the job they love. Thus, they are creative, gifted and happy in their own way.

As reported by www.today.az prices for construction materials in Baku rose by 36.6% since the beginning start of 2010. The figures were calculated by the Real Estate Association, which monitored 88 items of goods on the construction materials market. The Association's last year study for prices of 89 type of construction materials also showed 21.1% increase. Thus in 2 years Azerbaijan construction market experienced 57.8% enormous rise in construction materials prices. As reported by Real Estate Association the year was marked by chaotic changes in prices for some building materials. As was reported earlier by Azerbaijan Statistic Board, the growth in construction sector for 9 months from the beginning of 2010 totaled 31.9%(2010/2009). This figure generally includes the huge rise (36.6%) of the construction materials prices, and real growth in the construction sector is questioned. The existing situation is quite unfavorable for contractors and many of them are in troubling situation with earlier signed contracts.

When it came to advertise a new luxury apartment complex in Moscow, developer-billionaire Vladislav Doronin looked no further than the woman living next to him-supermodel Naomi Campbell! She has appeared in a TV commercial for the luxury apartment complex "Legend Of Tsvetnoy" in Moscow, developed by Capital Group, that is owned by her Russian boyfriend. Naomi really does her best to shift this exclusive property and a 60-second ad was enough for working out in the fully equipped gym and then taking a dip in the swimming pool, have a dinner in a restaurant and come back to the apartment with a panoramic views over Moscow city. The advert finishes with Naomi breathing the lines: "I listen to your heart, Moscow. Now you know where I stay". Indeed, for those who do not know where and with whom is the "black pearl", we report; in early 2008 Naomi Campbell met with Vladislav Doronin at the Cannes Film Festival, and they soon began dating. Wedding of Naomi and Vladislav was to be held in August 2009, however, the billionaire is having difficulties with the divorce ... Together with her lover Naomi Campbell has settled in Russia, while Ekaterina,( Doronin's wife), lives in London. According to "GQ" magazine, in the ranking of the most stylish men of Russia in 2009, the billionaire took second place, and according to Building.ru, he entered the top ten list of the most professional developers of Russia. To date, Doronin's assets are estimated at nearly two billion dollars, although data from different sources considerably vary - from one to six billion.