$13,000 house now $23,700

Press, 8 May 1978, Page 4

$13,000 house now $23,700

PA Wellington! i' The average permit value; of a new house has risen. 31.8 per cent in the five“ March. years from 1973 to 1977. During the same time the I average permit value for a new flat has risen 98.3 per; cent, according to building; figudes given by the Statis-; tics Department. 1

! The average permit value jof a new house in the year (ended March 31. 1973, was : $13,036. By 1977 it had jumped to $23,705. ; In 1973 the average value lof a new flat was $8254; in 1977 it was $16,036. | The department noted that I these figures were at time of application for a permit and • that costs tended to be ■greater by actual completion date. The value of new house

permits in the March, 1977 year was $452.6M and of new flats, $179.5M, giving a total value of $632.1M. This wa,s 6.5 per cent higher than 1976 ($593.4M) and 15.6 per cent higher than 1975 ($546.6M).

The proportion of new flats to total new dwellings showed an upward movement in 1976-77 at 36.4 per cent, compared with 34.9 per cent the previous year, and 35.3 per cent in 1974-75. But while the individual and total values of new dwellings has increased, the number of permits issued has decreased markedly for the third successive March* ending year. From the record 39,734 dwelling units covered by building permits in the year to March 31, 1974, there have been drops of 16.7 per cent in 1975, 2.8 per cent’in 1976, and 6.6 per cent in 1977. «

Of the 30,060 dwelling unit permits issued in 1977, 19,094 were new houses and 10,966 new flats, which represented decreases of 19 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively, compared with the March, 1974, year.