The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1907. LAND TRANSACTIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 16, 14 October 1907, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1907. LAND TRANSACTIONS.

j The annual report of the Lands ! Transfer and Deeds Registration De? partmeuts gives an excellent insight jntp the' transactions in real estate for the year ended March 31; 1907. The, tabulated. figures, all the other departmental returns, afford just the minimum, information, and there is no attempt to work out perfien? tages. or make any .comparisons that would be interesting to the public. H—3i is one of the sessional papers, and receives scant consideration from memr bers of Parliament and the Dominion's Press, and yet there is much to be learned by a careful ctimparison of the "figures. The number of transfers registered during the period under review totalled 18,388, as compared with 17,045 in the previous year, and 15,423 for the year ended March 31, 1905. The total area involved in connection with the 18,388 transfers registered in the past financial year compared with the two previous years was as under:— .

Year ended Town & Suburban. Country.. :. March3l. Acres.' ■ Acres. ■ • 1907 ' 6,683' ' 2,703,539 1906 : ..; ,;: 6,3i)0 2,056,485 . . 1905 ~, ... 5,597. .. . .1,449,548 In the transfer of town and suburban lands the Wellington District is easily first with 202Q acres, the Canterbury district coming next with 1197 acres, Hie Auckland ■ district bemg a good third with 1128 acres. In the.Qtagq district only 478 acres were transferred, while in. the Hawkers Bay district the transfers involved m much as 620/aores. The country lauds, hpweyer, are the more interesting, and the areas deajt with in each jlistrict- for the. past two years compare as under:-—; '..■'.' Increase , .1907.. . l? 06. Dccreaset District. Acrea. Aqres. Acres.' . Auckland ... 443,211 698,335 . ltfl.lMt Taranaki ... 83,641 59,136 '24,505? Wellington ... 418,956 355,316 63,640* ' Hawkc'a Buy ... 190,934 112,273 78,661* Poverty Bay „. 210,240 135,909 73.331*. Nelson V' J.. 120,915 37,343 83;572« . jrarltjorougn ;.. 173,699 39,179 134,520' Canterbury ' ... V65,'182 ' 399,838 3fi5,344 , Otago ' ■ ... 152,015 183,352 ■ 31.337t Southland ~. 140,039 120,707 11.33E* ■ Wetland ~. 10,7D7 6,097 4 610* 2,709,53? 2,056,485, 653,014.! ■ The greatest gain has been in the Canterbury district, and the area transferred has nearly dqublecj, but the gain shown by .the Marlbqrough district is intrinsically better. The figures show that business jn real estate has been more active in Ihe South leland in. the North, for. of the total gain of 653,054 > acres, the South Island aopountsj for 568,041 acres, and the, Nqrth Island for only 85,013 acres. The tqtal are,'a of coimtry }ands dealt with in the past financial year in the North Island was 1,346,982 acres, and in the South Island ,1,362)559 acres, while in the previous year the figures were 1,261,969 acres for the North and 794,516 for the Sputh Island. : The values of the \mvn and suburban.lands and the country lands'are not differentiated, consequently we must take them both together to get at the; average vahje per acre. The figures for tlje past year are as linder: Total Total Average ' area. value, por acre. District Acres. • . £' £, a.'d, Auckland „. 444,339 1,323,137. . 3.0 0,. TaranaUl , ... 83 833 649,819 715 0 Wellington ... 420,982 3,587,236 810 0 HaiVko's Bay ... 191,654 1,066,504 5 11 0 'Poverty Bay 1.. 210,511 '643,317 211 6 Nelson. ... 121,084 168,958 1. 7 9 . Marlborough ... 173,803 211,118 14,3 -. Canterbury ... 766,379 4,661,142 6 0 0 . Otago ""■ ".}.. 152,493 797,196 546 Southland ...' 140,462 639,121 411 0 Wcstland ..! 10.782 ~ 47,465 4/ 8 0 2,716,222 £13,695,013 £5 0 0 It will be seen from the above figures that the 'area 1 transferred in the North Island was 1,351,219 aores, valued at i£7,170,013,'. equal to an average, of £b 6s.' Id. per acre, while in the South Island the transfers totalled 1,365,003 (teres, of the value of ,-£6,52.5,0Q0, equal to an average of £4 tss. fd. per acre, Laud is thus dearer, on the average, in the North Island thai in the South, and : the dearest land is in. the Wellington district, Taranaki being a good second. Values are, however, less thap they were in 1905-6', when the average, on the total area, involved was .£5 7s. lOd. per acre, .TJie averages of the four principal districts for the past two years compare as under:— ■■'■' . ■ 1905r6, 1906-7. •'■•'■ . . . .. . . Average Average. ' V District. nor acre. per aero. .■'.■'■" ' '£s."d. r £3.d; Auckland ... 1,1 1 3 0 0 . Wellington .:.' 10 0 Q 810 0 < Canterbury ... 8 0 0 ■ 6 0 0 .... 5 0 0 .54 6 There, is an advance in .the Auckland and Otago districts, and it is in these two diaUucts that there has been a shrinkage in ' the areas; transferred, the. decrease being most, niarked in the Auckland district, where there has been the greatest advance in values,, an advance of, 50 per cent, pn the average, '■,'-. , . . • . , •' ■ ■• The number' of mortgagqs.totalled 17,105, as compared with 15,746 in the previous year, and 13,618 for the year ended 31, 1905. The amounts secured by mortgages and the amounts paid off during the past financial year show as under;— ■•■.'■ Amount on Amount Not aint. : District, Mprtjago. Haidpll.' added. Auckland ... 616,958 '540,493 Taranaki ... "893,273 617,92? 275,346 Wellington .., 4,275,770 2,344,764 ' 1,931,016 ' Hawke'e 'Bay 1,128,510 629,632 : 498,978Poverty Bay 495,262 233,038 262,224 ■Nolboii > '■'.., Z0D,015. .95,265 104,750 ' Marlborougli 176,481 08,111 108,370 Canterbury ... 3,042,973 1>569.263 1,483,710 OtHffo ... 667,745 544,960 122,785 ■ Southland i.'. 638,743 353,496 285.247 • Westland" ::, 32,54? 20,437 ' 4052 £12.708,772 £7,091,801 £5,616,971 •■ Mar. 31,1905 ... 10,944,149 6,494,862 4,449.287 Mai , , 31,1905 ..: 9,190,523 6,653,26$ ' 3J537.260 In the past financial year the North Island secured, on mortgage £7,950,266, and paid • off ,£-1,443,209, the total on inortgttge by £3,508,057.

'The figures for the South. Island show ,£4,758,506 secured q'n mortgage, ,£2,647,592 -paid ' off, and £2,108,914 added tp the gross total. The aggregates of the mortgages on March 31 of each of the past four years compare as under;-—'''' Year ended Total Kortgagce. March 31. £ 19Q4 45,495,552 ~ " . '. 1905 ..I 49.010,811 1906 ... .;. :■;• 53,420,099 1907 ... ... ... 50,097,070 It will be seen from the ahove that in the past three years'np'less than £13,603,61.8 has been added to the aggregate, and this is equal to on increase of nearly 30 por c6nt. Taking the totals for each district for the past, two years the figures are ps tabulated low':-^ March 31 March 31 ' 1906." " 1907.; Increase. . District. ' £ '£ " ; £' Auckland ... 4,551,617 5,092,110 540,493 T.aranaki :'.'. 4,340,980 4,616,326 ■ 275,346 :„ 15,500,418 17,431,433 .1,931,015 ■ Hawlie's Bay 5,913,044 6,417,023 ■ 458.978 Poverty ■■'Bay 905,514 1,163.738 262,224 Nelson' "... 1,228,121 1,332,871 104;750 Marlboroußll 612,724 721,094 108,370 Canterbury 11,643,£<i5 13,127,375 1,483,710.. Otagb ■•"" ' ... 3,734,570 3,857,355 122,785 Southland ... 4,073,349 5,159,095 285,247 . Westlanu .„ 169,597 '173,650 4,053 £53,4.80,099 £59,097,(170 £5,616,97?. . Qf the total' of £'59,097,070,. the North Island accounts for £34,725,629, and the South Island for £24,371,441, that is to say, 58.75 per cent, of the total mortgages are secured on lands in the. North Island and 41.25 per' cent., in tjie' South'"lsland, Ass."mmg an average rate pf SJ-per cent., t]ie amount to be paid in interest by the mc.rtga= gors each year \s approximately '£3,250,338 17s :) eqiialtq the value of about 203,146 bales of wool'a't an avei , , age value, of $16 per bale. :