RENTS IN NEW YORK

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 1, 1 July 1922, Page 12

RENTS IN NEW YORK

A DECLINE. ■■ .' Since last November, up to the end1 of April, there was an average decline of 2.5.per cent, in the rents of wage earners' houses in the. United States, accordiiig to the results of the latest cost of living survey, by, the National Industrial Conferfeiice Board. "The information on whibh the board's estimate war based," said a statement from tile board, "was derived from questionnaires regarding changes in the rents of four or five* rooihs with btth. Replies were/received' from: 467 agencies, including- real estate boards and brokers, oharabers of commerce,'. social organisations, and others/in close touch with the housing . situation in 165 cities. These cities included nearly every city in the. Xjn.ited States, having a population' of 50,000 or over, in 1920, and many other smaller places. . • ' ' . ■" "The decreased rents is signifioent as the second slight lowering of the oost of housing since March, 1921, when the peik of the risfe in rents was" -reached for the country as a whole. The total increase in. rents between July, 1914, and March, 1922, was 65 per cent. In Maroh, J. 922, rents still averaged 4.5 . per, cent, abovethe July, 1920, level, although during the ;past. year they have decreased 3.S per cent. " ' •■■.-■" "Decreases in rents between November, 1921, and Maroh, 1922, Were reported in 49 of the 163 cities, from whioh com' paratjvo reports.were reoeived for these two dates'. In fourteen citieß, there were increases, but these were unimportant compared with tho decreases, reported from cities of similar size. ' "Among the cities in the East, -forty-one reported no ohange in average rents between November, "1921, and March, 1922. New York' and Jersey City were among those reporting slight increases; in Baltimore and Buffalo there were decreases. "San Aritohio was the only city in the South reporting an ilibrease\in rents since November, 1921. Se\en cities in this section reported decreases. . ■ •• " "In the Middle Wost, twenty-three oities reported decreases. "In-eleven cities in the Far West, inoluding Denver, Los Angeles* Portland, Ore-.,, and Spokane, average rents did not change within the four-month period preoeding March; 1922._ San . Francisco .was ,one of the three cities to report in; creases. In Seattle, Salt Lako City, and six other cities, rents showed decrease whioh fell.within the limits of the two. groups, 11 per cent, to 20 per cent., and! 10 per cent, or less. ' . - : , "Large increases over rents current in 1914 were frequently found in Maroh, 1922. In nine cities,'- the increase was still over 100 per cent., although, exoept for Los Angeles, none of these had «. population of 100,000 in 1920. Portland, Ore., Denver, and four other cities quoted an average advance since 1914 >f between 91 per cent, and ldO per cent, j increases Which varied irorn 81 per oeht. to _90 . per cent, were noted in fifteen cities, among them New York. Buffalo, Ghicago, Jersey City, and' Pittsburgh fall into the group of nineteen oities where rents averaged 71 per cenk to 80 p«r cent, above 1914 prices. ' '. . ■ "Real estate operators and others who returned questionnaires looked for a further decrease in rents during the,-next few months, in spito of tha need for'more buildings. With a renewal of leases, a marked decline was expected.''