REAL ESTATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 95, 23 April 1926, Page 11

REAL ESTATE.

UND AND BUILDINGS. A PROGRESSIVE TEAR. The figures supplied by the Auckland City Council and the suburban local bodies in connection with the building permits issued during the year ended March 31 give a good idea of the record progress'that is being made in the Auckland province. The total value of the buildings erected in the Greater Auckland area was £3,350,200, while the figures for the city itself stand at £1,567,958. ffhese figures indicate only too well the rapid expansion and continued activity that is going on in the building trade. It also goes to show that the improved roads, providing for better means of transport, are an incentive to people to build out of the city area. As exemplifying this,; it is shown that 2530 new dwellings were erected for the year, and 674 of these were erected in the city areas. • '

Relative " progress has been made in the suburbs, but Mount Albert is ithe borough that heads the list, with an outlay of £359,656, constituting a record. During the year 902 permits were issued, valued at exceeding the figures for lag£ year by £61,709. The popularity of this suburb may bo gained from the fact that during the past four years 1500 new houses have been erected.

The remaining boroughs, both on this side of the Waitemata and on the other, all report steady progress and increasing figures, which must place Auckland in the forefront, as far as building returns are concerned.

The register of buildings in Dunedin shows that for the year ended March 31 the permits for new structures or alterations'* were in respect to a total expenditure of £513,248 for private contracts, and, adding to this amount the value of the works undertaken by the City Corporation, the aggregate is £521,121. The total for the .year ended. March, 1925, was £752;673. Apparently the year jiist closed shows a reduction, says the Dunedin "Star," but this is not indicative of a halt in general progress, since the 19*24-25 register was inflated by several large works, such as the Exhibition, the Medical School, and the Dental School, and if these are excluded as occasional, the present return compares very favourably with the past

period. Something new in the way of sleeping dormitories is embodied in the new Wesley Training, College at Paerata, and they are so constructed as to be a feature of the building, and an idea that could well he followed by other colleges. The dormitories are long, spacious rooms, the . beds facing the sliding windows-and so receiving all available light and ventilation. Behind the first row of beds there is a wooden partition, and behind this there is a further row of beds, but the building ;is so constructed as to afford ample light,and air space. The college itself

is a well-constructed building, and is plainly but substantially designed. At the opening of the new wing last Saturday, the visitors were loud in their praise of the structure and its surroundings. Mr. A. E. Pearce, of Auckland, was the architect. The work of altering the premises recently bought by the Auckland Commercial Travellers' Club in High Street is proceeding apace. The finished structure will be a splendid example of modern architecture. The new premises will 'be a distinct improvement on the old building in Durham Street, and will be a fitting establishment for such an association as the Commercial Travellers. Good progress is being made with the front of the Commercial Hotel, on the corner of High Street and Shortland Street, where a block of three shops is at present being constructed.