HOUSE VALUES IN CITIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18461, 26 July 1923, Page 12

HOUSE VALUES IN CITIES.

LONDON AND NEW YOTJK. LARGE FORTUNES FOR SITES I The price of £250.000 for the northern , part of the garden of Devonshire House, Piccadilly, London, is apt to appal the ordinary individual. Actually, however, the figure is a moderate one in comparison with the value set upon other London sites. Large fortunes have changed hands within the tajfc year or two in connection with the new buildings which have been erected in the vicinity of Aldwyeh and Kingsway. The price paid in 1919 for the site of a cinema in the Strand was £14 a square foot. The Devonshire House negotiations prompt the query: Which is London most valuable site? Such a question, however, is not capable of definite answer, for the simple reason that there are spots in the Metropolis one could not buy with untold wealth. As much as £70 has been paid for a square foot of land near the Bank of England! Fabulous prices have had to be paid by the London County Council to secure small pieces of land for necessary street improvements; one strip near Piccadilly cost them over £30 per square foot. Vast yearly incomes Have descended to the fortunate qwners of certain London estates which were purchased years ago, as a speculation, by their discerning ancestors. There are, to quote only two instances, the sites in Bedford Square and Portman Square. Land which had in certain cases been purchased for a f»w pounds has since risen to be worth suma running into five figures. In 'New York City costs are even higher, and competition for land in Broadway is fierce. By reason of the restricted area for building,purposes, it has been necessary to build upwards instead of outwardsas in the cases of the Singer building and other skyscrapers— this naturally enhances the value of the actual ground upon which the building rises. Towns and, cities are always expanding, and a piece of land picked up to-day for a mere soifg may be worth many times its original value a few years hence. The building of new railways always adds value to the neighbourhoods concerned, but it is not possible to exploit the plans of railway companies as it once was. Formerly the owner of land quoted his price, and the company either fell in. with his views or had to go to greater cost to build round the spot. Nowadays such negotiations are mostly done by arbitration.