PROPERTY VALUES

Evening Star, Issue 22099, 20 April 1935, Page 4

PROPERTY VALUES

TRACED THROUGH THE DEPRESSION WELLINGTON'S LATEST FIGURES [Ffcou Ous Own CoawuroKDMT.l WELLINGTON, April 26. Tiie Government valuation of Wellington City has been under revision during the last two years, and the work was recently completed, this stage being heralded by letters to the newspapers from critical property-owners, who have been puzzled oyer the results as they affect the individual. They of the mystery to the layman is due to the fact that in the long intervals between valuations, changes occur in the popularity of districts, especially residential areas, and unless owners have been concerned in purchases of recent date, they arc liable to receive shocks, pleasant or • unpleasant, t when the official valuations are published, based on a number of important factors, not the least being the actual prices paid for laud and improvements in the area under review. Wellington’s experience will provide a fair guide to property-owners in other cities regarding the position of values to-day. The official view represented in the valuation results is that since the previous valuation of 1929, when tho dominion was emerging from a mild depression and had no hint of the longer one to follow, property values have receded to the extent of about 20 per cent., and that the decline is probably more marked in respect to purely business areas than in the suburbs. Though the final compilation of tile gross valuation of Wellington City is not quite completed, a good approximation can ho made of the total, enabling the following illuminating comparisons to be published of values as they have advanced and receded since pre-war times. The table gives tho gross unimproved value of Wellington City (including properties exempt from rating) : Year. Unimproved Value. 1914 ...£12,541,756 1921 17,058,183 1929 26.673,550 1935 (approx.) ... 15.750,000 Wellington ratepayers are levied on the basis of the unimproved value of their land, so that they are not greatly concerned over the improvements. Auckland valuations are fairly up to date, it is ascertained, for the reason that there are many local governing areas surrounding the city, and valuers have been steadily revising the rolls for some years. A revaluation of Christchurch City is being started, and experience shows that this process usually occupies two years.