SHORTAGE OF HOUSES

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 301, 17 September 1934, Page 10

SHORTAGE OF HOUSES

Wellington’s Cityward Trend INFLUENCE OF TRAM FARES “There is at present a very definite demand for houses in reasonable condition glmost anywhere within the old city boundaries,” said a well-known Wellington house and land agent on Saturday. “A year ago there were plenty of.such places to let, but they seem to have all been filled, and there-is'now a genuine demand for such places.” Asked how the change could be accounted for. the land agent said: — “I should say there is a definite trend from the outer suburbs to the city. When Mr. C. J. B. Norwood was Mayor of Wellington, a three-shillings concession card available from the city to any suburb, no matter how distant, was introduced. That was a move in the right direction. It induced people to leave the overcrowded city and make homes in the outer suburbs—Miramar, Karori, Island Bay, Seatoun, . and Lyall Bay. Then when the fares were raised again, though the rise was not very .considerable, many people decided to return to the city area., “There are always some people who, after trying the suburbs, decide that the time taken on the tram journeys to and from their places of business is too great, and they come back to the city,” he said. “I know dozens of people who went out to the Lower Hutt in- the flush of the boom five or six years ago, and who are all back in town.”

“I do not say this is the main cause of the house shortage,” continued the Agent. “There are other aspects which must be considered. House building, on anv considerable scale, has been at a standstill for some time past in Wellington. People cannot finance building so readily as they used to. and the building speculator does not find it quite so easy to buy up blocks of land and then find safe purchasers for his houses. “While five or six-roomed houses are in lively demand, flats have also coma to the front lately,” said the ' agent. “Any well appointed flat near the city will let to-day without trouble. Men like to be near their places of business, and if the flat can be made at all home-like they are quite prepared to put up with life at close quarters, so to speak, for the sake of its handiness. The woman in the case also finds that with a small flat to look after she had more leisure than before.”