HIGH RENTS IN U.S.A.

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 126, 24 November 1923, Page 16

HIGH RENTS IN U.S.A.

PEAK NOT YET IN SIGHT,

: , „,B«t« are abnormally higjh in all parts :«f.thejUnited States,, and.in New York 1 ¥**. J 11?? *** aPProaching the so-called ;|?a^»V>coordirig'' to/, a, - nation-wide ' surSfW 4n^ completed bythe''National lu•.dustries Conference Board, and made public through the "New York Times." c increases are prevalent especially :in regard to "homes formerly jvithin the means of the ordinary wage-earner.

■■ The- survey shows that rents are high■■:er:than at: any time during the last nine years, and generally about 75 per cent, ■above the pre-war level. ■■ . .'■'ln compiling; its' data the board received reports from real estate brokers and others closely in touch with the housing situation in 161 cities. The figires .:show that during the period of Tthe; war rents rose slowly as compared with the cost of other necessities, but "were \still going: up ■. after July, 1920, when the cost of living as a whole be:ganto fall. The peak of rents, prior ■to July,. 1923, was not reached until •March, 1921. After that average rents dropped slightly, and showed a tendency downward during the year. In November, 1922, the advance began again. "'- " "" . .

i.-..-.The report continued:. "This is not .true,, .of course,. in all cities., or in all -•parts: of the country. Some of the cities 'where-rents: once were highest are.now -■relatively, low measured by percentage Jof change. In others, however, there has been a steady climb upward. Taking the last four-month period for which •the conference board has figures, that ended in July, 1923, it is found that in ■60 of. 161 cities from which reports were received there has been an average increase' in rents and decreases iii only 16. •• In the remaining 85 rents remain-ed--unchanged; Thirty-two, cities of the 161' reporting averaged rent increases of more than 100 per cent, since 1914; Some of the largest cities in the country were in this""group, "such as Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Jersey City.

"In Denver, Portland, Ore., arid Rochester, rent increases since July, 1914, averaged between 91 per cent, and 100 per cent:; in Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Washington, rents were 81 per cent... to. 90 per cent, higher, and in Cincinnati Pittsburgh, 71 per cent, and 80-per -cent.. higher, - respectively. This enumeration "takes into account only the largest industrial.. centres. Cities with smaller populations show the same tendency. On the other hand, a few important, places like-Baltimore, Indianapolis, . Kansas City, Minneapolis, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Seattle reported increases in rents somewhat less than tne average for the country as a whole.

The tendency of rents has been clearly upward,- however,, in the past summer, and few of -those which reported to the.board expected a decline in the f. ear „***?»:. Scarcity, of accommodation, the high cost of such buildings as are being erected, and increased cost of upkeep and taxes serve to raise and keep up the rents of average houses in average communities."