HOUSE PROPERTY

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 16 December 1920, Page 3

HOUSE PROPERTY

POSITION IN CHRISTCHURCH

CONFIDENCE THE KEYNOTE

There is a lull in the house property business, vendors for- the most par* sticking out for the high prices of the full boom period. Prospective buyers are hanging back. Three causes are given for the slackness that has overtaken the trade —restriction on, overdrafts, withdrawal of speculators, and the approach of the holiday season. House agents argue that tne calm is only temporary, and that there will^be a revival by February. Experts, wfto claim to be impartial, gay prices are going to fall, not because building will become cheaper, bu£ because many oira. ors will need cash. Confidence is the keynote of public utterances of prominent land agents. "In 12 months time* houses will be scarcer than they are today," sail a well-known auctioneer to a Star reporter/ "Builders have stopped erecting houses for speculative purposes, but there isn't a house to rent anywhere. Doesn't that mean that the shortage will grow more acute? In addition to the "ordinary immigrants many people with money are bound to come here from England. New Zealand has been given'a good boost, and Christchurch is looked upon as the best laidr out and most English city south of the line. Houses tfoat cost £1000 before the war will remain at £1700 and £1800 for many years to come. Though the money market is tight we have not found that finance has affected the sale of properties to any- extent. People are still able to arrange as between buyer and seller. Of course there is an easy spell between Carnival Week and the. New Year. Very soon money for dairy produce and meat will be forthcoming. That is another factor we must reckon with. Sections are certainly slack of sale just now. • What can you expect with building costs rising ? Apart from that business is steady. There is certainly a steady ing-iip, but good houses will always bring good value without , haggling, said another agent. A number of vendors •who have reduced their prices made quick sale, but these could be counted on the fingers of onejhand. At the same time prospective buyers, !at present rates, are shying clear. , They cannot raise money as easily as | they could two or three months ago. I The banks have caution written all over

them. To buy a £1200 house to-day you need £400 in cash. Only "then can you fix up a mortgage. Some people are finding it hard to meet payments. Probably there will be more in a few months. There are amateurs who crop up at every boom time, and go just a bit too far. Fui"ther enquiries among agents confirmed the statement that the demand has fallen off. The action of the Government in virtually stopping all loans to soldiers for the purchase of houses already built is curtailing business. Accompanying this is a determination on the parttof the majority of owners to secure the price they ask. There are over $00 applicants, and more to • follow, for the tS»vern~ ment's 80 houses at Papanui. "For houses, or for hoots, when the demand falls the price must fall; that's what I learned-at school," said a business man when summing up the situation.