CITY LAND VALUES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 49, Issue 201, 11 June 1929, Page 2

CITY LAND VALUES

INCREASES IN WELLINGTON.

TOO EXPENSIVE FOR HOUSES.

(Special /a> the “Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, June 10

The Assessment Court sittings in connection with Wellington City land valuations have been providing ample evidence of quick rise in prices for the restricted areas .available for commerce near the centre of the city and Lambton Quay. .Freeholds, which in most cases' have small depth, appear ,to be generally valued at £SOO per foot, an objector who raised issues regarding gross valuation being quite content with this assessment of unimproved value. ~ . . j Oriental Bay, a popular residential area rising steeply from the harbour, jis a highly-assessed neighbourhood, an I objector demonstrating to the Court 1 that the unimproved value appeared jto be officially placed at £IO,OOO per acre. _ , . Willis Street, an extension of Lambton Quay, carries a valuation equal to the city’s main street for the major part of its length, but where it enters the suburban area it is worth £SO to £55 per foot, and is still utilised largely for residences. Cuba Street is rapidly approaching Lambton Quay values. Evidence was given before the Assessment Court to-day that land in Cuba Street was bought at £6OO a foot, though the Valuation Department is content to place the unimproved value at £4OO. Wellington Terrace, on the hillside parallel with Lambton Quay, provides the most remarkable evidence of soaring values. One property owner complained; that a section bought eight years ago at £3O a foot is now rated on a basis of £92 a foot. The valuation officer’s answer was to produce a newspaper clipping showing a recent sale at £2OO a foot. Wellington Terrace, as a consequence of high values, is rapidly losing its residential aspect, large blocks of offices, flats and shops’ replacing dwellings in which, as / one owner remarked, it has become too expensive to live.