PROPERTY MARKET.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17103, 26 March 1921, Page 14

PROPERTY MARKET.

DEMAND FOR DWELLINGS IN WELLINGTON. Enquiries were made by the Wellington "Post" tliis week.intq the present condition of the real estate market, and with interesting results. These went to show that country properties are not now changing hands so freely as they did six or eight months ago; but at the same time they are well held, l.i some instances concessions have been made in prices demanded, although tikis is reported as not "general. They would appear to have been made only in special circumstances. At the same time, thero is.said to be a decided slackening off m the demand far farm properties. Any quietness in the market' for city main thoroughfare properties is attributable to the tightness of money, although the suspension of regulations relating to control of building materials is likely to revive interest in city, properties for both extension _ of existing •premises and the erection of new commercial buildings. There a|o many important sclietnes of this 'v-ncl "in the air," but they had to wait until requirements for materials and labour tov other and more urgent construction were met.' These regulations at the time they became operativejhad a tendency to restrict transactions in vacant city sections or sections carrying obsolete or old buildings that could be removed to give place to others of a larger and more substantial character. Tho .existing monetary stringency, however,is not likely to retard development to any great'extent for the time , being, as it is confidently believed that it will soon pass. Interest of the public _in suburban sections suitable for dwelling-houses, is, on .the whole, quiet; but in certain circumstances, and in popular localities, business is still reported at prices that .show no. reduction in valu.es. of twelve months' ago, and in some instances at ndvances on vaflies then ruling. It is the impression that some moderation in the cost of building houses in respect of both labour and material would cause a revival of business in suburban sections. ' • One of th& things hard to understand in the present shortage of • dwellinghouse accommodation in ."Wellington is the comparatively large number of new ■ but untenanted small nouses. There are te be eeen in various parts of the suburbs, but are more numerous in the south-east thian elsewhere. Some of) them .have long been finished, but as yet* have had no occupants. It appears to be a general idea that although the rent restriction legislation does not apply in the case or-letting hew (houses, tho owners of such h6uses are very loth to let them. In any case, they prdfor to sell outright and run no risks. As Bale 9 show a tendency to slow down, so the erection of new dwellings sho~vs signs of ejackening off, although the demand for houses to rent is as keen as ever, and is likely to be intensified rather than abated with new arrivals in the 3>ominion who may vmd their journey in Wellington. The niiect of the rent restriction legislation on "old" houses —as distinguished from new dwellings' not' yet occupied—is said to be that when one of them becomes vacant; tho invariable desire of owners is te sell. Letting is generally done with reluctance, and then'' only to thoroughly approved tenants. It. lias been noticed that tlie quickchange • system of. ownership whereby a man bought a house to-day and sold it to-morrow, so to speak, has waned in ■ popularity. There was a good deal of ■thirf ikinfl of speculation at the time when'the troops began to come back in quickly following shiploads—many of the men married, many more of them intending to marry as soon as they arrived. Thsn .there was another form of speculation in lioUso pronoriy, which has aJso begun to decline. It took the form of buying a houso built, say, 15 or fX) years ago ; giving it a_ general renovation, putting in convetiiences it had not before—in short, spending £IOO to £l5O on it, and making a profit of possibly £250 to £3OO on it in its "good-ae-new" condition. This kind of property business is also slowing down. ' In no quarters in which enquiries were made was anything but a Hopeful view taken of the state of the property market. It was admitted that there would probably bo some recasting of owneis* ideas m values, possibly a reduction for the time beiiig ih the volume of business, but that Wellington city and suburbs must continue growing in the matter of /buildings and-the value of property generally. The'present condition of finance was held to be but a pacing phase, and one not likely to be of long duration, once the prices for all the primary products showed advances, and shipping was in ample, supply to lift them and get them into, overseas markets. '