NOT ENOUGH HOUSES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1023, 12 January 1911, Page 9

NOT ENOUGH HOUSES.

MOTS 'GO UP IN STDNISY. : House rents arc being increased practically all over Sydney, .savs' the "Sydney Morning- Herald."' The 'following is a sample of the 1011 salutation lrom the city landlords:— "Bear Sir, —I beg to inform you that owing to the imposition of I hat unjust Federal land tax this* estate is burdened with heavy additional taxation, without any corresponding advantages; it therefore becomes the unpleasant duty of the trustees to, in a small measure, recoup the estate by increasing the rents of the several properties. I thereforo beg to state that lrom January 0, 1011, tho rent ol' room —r now occupied by you will, be 13s. 6d., dnting_from .January 9, 1011. In your ease an increase of only Is. per week. Early next week I will forward your present lease, with the necessary endorsement thereon, for signature." A few years ago there were few suburban streets .where a "To Let" board did not overhang the pathway. Agents had on their books scores of houses waiting for tenants. • . To-day, however, there are not enough houses to go round. Anything under' «£6O a year iu tho nearer suburbs is snapped up so soon as "To Let" is hoisted. Tho new tenant does not even protest when required to.pay a shilling a week more than the previous occupant.. •'lt's really wonderful where the - peor pie all come from," remarked one of th 6 principal house agents. "Look at the thousands' who cross to North Sydney every evening. Look at tho cjwded .trams running from tho city to the eastern aiid western suburbs. . See the swarms who are carried along tho main suburban line. Population is expanding so rapidly that tho demand for homes, whether it be in Surry Ilills or North Sydney, is really greater than the supply. Newly-erected houses are takeii almost before tho roof is put on. Landlords are having a great time." "How long has this demand been growing? It became niark<xl 'about two. years ago, and it. has teen very pronounced, during the last year. .Rent's have moved up a little,§.but the chief advantage .to, landlords has been in - continuous .tenancy; and in prompt rental paymeuts.. ' House'; agents really have very little letting business to do. Either the outgoing tenant knows somebody who wants to come in, or is the means of bringing possible ten-, ants into direct relations with tho landlord. People are not moving from house to /house or from suburb to suburb as in former years. Thero are so few places to choose from."

"Is there a boom? No, I think not. It is a steadily growing demand, arising out of the wonderful prosperity of Sydney." In perhaps no suburb is there a keener demand for house accommodation thnn in North Sydney. Within 15 years the population there has doubled itself. House agents on the Shorn say there are no places to let, that building has been pushed on.at a great rate, but the.'demand is'by no means satisfied, and landlords can almost dictate, their own .terms as to rentals. Shop rentals in particular have moved upward. So far as the suburbs are concerned; the imposition of the progressive land tax does not appear to have made any appreciable difference. The exemption clause operates there. But to city 'properties, where values are very high, the. tax does, apply in ; a very direct manner, and the owners are passing the tax on.