BUILDING IN THE SUBURBS.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 38, 13 February 1920, Page 5

BUILDING IN THE SUBURBS.

MOSTLY SWELLINGS. SOME MARKED INCREASES. In spite of the high prices of everything that goes to make a house, and ir. spite of the price of labour, a man must have a roof over his head, so people are compelled to go on building—w*en they can find the work, men and material. The returns of the building permits issued by the local bodies surrounding Auckland show how building activities have been resumed after the stoppage that was entailed by the war. Leav_£ out the city, where "most of the buildings that have gone up have been for commercial purposes, we find that in the suburbs ,mentioned below, the last si* months has seen nearly £130,000 worth of buildings either constructed or under course of construction —an increase of about £100,000 over the figures for the first half of the year.

A years' building operations at Devonport gave* a total value of £19,507. For the half year which ended June, 1919, the value of the work done was £7782, while for the half year which ended December 31, 1919. the value was £11,725.

Birkenhead's tivelve permits issued during the past six months represented an outlay of £3000, and this compared with the corresponding period of last year gives more than a five fold increase.

In Newmarket there is a lot of bonding going on, and«-when it is completed Broadway will have its appearance quite altered. 'During the past six months 40 permits were issued, representing a sum of £-27,000. For the six months before only 11 permits were issued, the value being £4000.

Takapuna's figures show how popular that suburb has become. For the paat twelve months the permits total no less than £49,202, of which £29,624 is the value of work authorised during the latter half of the period.

One Tree Hill shows a big increase. From February to July, 1919, fifteen permits were issued, giving a total value of £13,710; from August 1919, to January of the -present year, twenty-three permits were issued, total value

£17,659. The increase is even better than it looks because in the' sum in the first six months is included over £5000 spent on additions to a school.

In the case of Onehunga the last six months has seen a big impetus in building, the total value having increased over three-fold. During the six months just past, the value of the work done under permit from the Borough Council was £ 16,263. as against £5293 for the previ--1 ous half year. Except for a garage t • jso Onehunga's figures represent money I put into dwellings. -

Northcote authorised work during the last six months to the value of £3775, which includes six new dwellings, - the value of work done in the previous six months being £150.