BUILDING ACTIVITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 308, 29 December 1937, Page 4

BUILDING ACTIVITY.

AUCKLAND RETURNS. i MORE CAPITAL EXPENDED. £1,500,000 FOR THE YEAR. ( Last year's great advance in building activity was continued at a slower pace in 1937. Returns compiled by local authorities in the metropolitan area and adjoining boroughs and town boards show that the value of permits issued to December 14 this year totalled approximately £ 1 ..->OO,OOO. There lias been no corresponding increase in the number of dwellings erected however. The construction of houses by private enterprise has -liown an appreciable falling off. the drop in the case of the Auckland city area being from 373 to 306. Similarly in the suburbs local authorities report that fewer houses have been built. At Onehunga, for instance, the position has been very slack on account of poor inducements, while in New Lynn the only explanations of the reduction in the value of the permits for dwellings from £8362 in 1936 to £5674 in 1937 are said to lie in rising cost#, restrictive legislation and the prospects of Government building. At Northcote, however, an increase in activity has been noticed in the past three months. In Mount Roskill, although 14 fewer dwellings were built during the year in comparison with 1936, their value exceeded the previous year's total by approximately £3000. Increase For December. December has been a busy month for builders this year, permits issued being twice the value of those issued in December of last year. The figure is not quite up to the 1935 level, however, and shows a normal falling off from the November level. The permits issued, 135 in all, included those for the erection of additional storeys to a warehouse, ttwo oil storage tanks, a small factory and numerous alterations to existing structures. There were, as well, 94 permits for new dwellings, representing an outlay of £25,656. Fourteen of these are estimated to cost under £1000 each, nine range in value from £1000 to under £2000, and one is to exceed £2000. The monthly totals for the city, together with those of the paat two years, are as follows: — 1037. 1938. 193.'. January «••••• £50,« m £75.<iOR £23,383 February 40,410 frf),<>4B 25, ">BO March 47,9.90 56,290 33,512 April .. 10H.107 77,817 39,085 Mar - 40,901 52.475 4<i.fiOO June 63,406 W.Olo 32,250 JulT 100.260 80,325 35,600 August 93,264 73.537 43,423 September .... 74,599 70,006 68,539 October 69,457 05,737 51,262 November 84,883 89,213 05,164 December 71,097 34,684 76,039 £849,063 £832,763 £572,536 For the greater part, the statistics for suburban local bodies have shown a continued increase, although the advance is by no means so large as was the case in 1930. Less activity has been apparent in Mount Eden, One Tree Hill and Newmarket, and in the outer areas, where the improvement in 1996 was striking, further advance has been checked. Two Years Compared. So far as figuree are available, the following table shows the value of the permits issued in 1937 and 1936 respectively: - METROPOLITAN AREA. 1987. 1936. £ e Auckland City .. 849,003 832,763 Otahuhu 81,892 ~~ Mount Eden 67,203 76,597 Mount Albert ... 64,700 Mount RoiKlU .. 52,764 Onehunga 41,051 rI'SSS One Tree Hill .. 37.619 77,253 Newmarket 83,004 89,091 EUerslle 16,050 New Lynn 14,125 12,082 Olen Eden I.TTT — 1,260,238 1,100,570 OUTER AREAS. 1937. 1036. £ £ Manuklan County . 69,978 64,964 Papatoetoe 14,400 21 '1§ 7 Papakura 13,810 7,774 08,188 93,025 NORTH SHORE BOROUGHS. 1937. 1936. £ £ Takapuna 81,127 37,975 Devonport ...... 21,738 — Northcote 5,406 — 58,271 37,975 New Dwelling Permits. The following table shows the number of permits for new dwellings issued by local bodies this year and last year: — 1937. 1936. Auckland City ... 306 373 Otahuhu 91 —- Mount Eden 44 54 Mount Albert .... 55 68 Mount Rosklll ... 47 61 Onehunga 30 45 One Tree Hill ... 21 34 Newmarket 4 3 EUerslle 12 16 New Lynn 8 14 Glen Eden ....... 3 — Manukau County.. 45 47 Papatoetoe 10 30 Papakura 10 9 Takapuna 28 88 Devonport 14 — Northcote 5 — Birkenhead 0 12 748 804