Doubts about houses

Press, 27 July 1982, Page 6

Doubts about houses

\ It was unlikely that the Government's cheap housing plan would work, said the secretary of the Canterbury Master Builders' Association .(Mr W.. Wilson) yesterday. The Housing Corporation is expected to release details later this week of a possible prototype home which it hopes to promote. A spokesman for the corporation has said that he foresees a cheap, light weight, prefabricated unit that could be bought off,the rack and stacked like bunks in housing developments. Mr Wilson said that the houses would have to be mass-produced and that New Zealand's population was too small to provide sufficient market. “Even with two factories in the North Island and one in the South Island, the houses would still have to be transported and. the cost would be astronomical." he said. It would be possible by relaxing the engineering regulations to mass-produce

a home for between $20,000 and $25,000, he said, but the manufacturer would have to overcome consumer resistance.

"Whether 'they can afford them or- not. people want a nice brick house like everyone else has got," he said. The cost of the average home in Canterbury was $40,000 but the' price was inflated by the ■ number of high-cost homes that were being built, he said. Mr Wilson said that the average builder would not favour the plan because it would not offer him any new work. “But on the other hand, the average builder is not building homes in the low-price bracket now because there is no such thing as a cheap home." he said.. The corporation has also announced that it will investigate the possibility of introducing mobile homes and American-style trailer parks offering permanent accommodation. Mr Wilson said that he had seen trailer parks in the United States. The. mobile

homes there were like normal houses except that they were on wheels. The parks were beautifully landscaped and attractive. However, he said that “the average Kiwi” would not wear the idea.