PROPERTY SALES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24761, 8 December 1943, Page 4

PROPERTY SALES

SEDUCED PRICES SET DECISIONS OF COMMITTEE Provisional consent to the 6ales of properties in the outer southern suburbs and country districts at prices considerably less than those proposed by the parties to the transactions was given yesterday by the North Auckland Land Sales Committee at its sitting. In announcing the decisions, the chairman, Mr. S. I. Goodall, said that, I the parties agreed to the sales at the figures stipulated by the committee, amended applications could be submitted for approval and, failing that, they had the remedy of appealing to the Land Sales Court. The committee's consent was sougnt to the sale of a four-roomed house in Great South Road, Manurewa for £I3OO. Counsel for the vendor stated it had been purchased by her in April, 1943, for £llOO, it then being unoccupied and the ground in _ a neglected state. The enhanced price was agreed to by the parties on. account of the improvements affected, and the purchaser, a serving soldier awaiting release from the Army, said lie was prepared to pay £I3OO- - at £2OO Less

To Mr. A. A. McLauchlan, a member of the committee, the purchaser said* ho was unable to say whether the vendor was entitled to make a profit ot £2OO in the few months of her possession. The committee announced it would approve of the, sale at £llOO. The sale of a live-roomed house in Kimpton Road, Papatoetoe, outside the town board district and n °^ iri J!f rv with sewerage facilities, at £I2OO was not approved at that figure, the committee fixing the price at £1125. "The purchaser had her house burned down at Pa'merston North and her husband is a prisoner of war in Germany," stated counsel for the parties in a proposal to sell a four-roomed house on about three-quarters of an acre on the corner of Pah and Margaret Roads, Papatoetoe, for £1250. After hearing evidence, the committee fixed the approved price at £llOO. Other Transactions • An acre of land and a four-roomed house in Brookby Road, Whitford, was proposed to be sold for £llsO, it being stated that the grounds were laid out as a nursery garden, with fruit trees, some grape vines and 7000 bulbs. A valuer for the parties assessed the property at £1295, and the State Department valuer submitted a valuation of £935. Consent was given to the sale at £IO4O. . Applications for consent to the sale of a four-roomed house on about two and a-quarter acres of land at Taupala for £IOOO, and the sale of_ a fourroomed house on a residential section in Rosella Road, Mangere, at £IOOO. were granted. • Three separate sales of vacant sections on the'' Palm Beach estate on Waiheke Island at £SO each were approved by the committee. The sections . ranged in size from 33.5 to 39.2 perches. BORER AND AGE EFFECTS UPON PROPERTIES (0.C.) HAMILTON. Tuesday The effect of borer infestation on the value of house properties was discussed before the South Auckland Land Sales Committee. Evidence was given by George Boyes, land agent and valuer, that a good many houses in Hamilton suffered from some degree of borer infestation. This did not make the houses valueless by any means, for there were houses from 50 to 60 years old which had some borer, but which still had left many years of usefulness. A case was quoted of a house in Hamilton being 70 years old but still sound. The chairman, Mr. N. A. Ching, questioned the method of reducing the value of a house by a fixed sum each year in allowing for depreciation. He said that under that method houses 60 to 70 years old would have to be valued at nothing. However, some houses of that age were still good buying propositions. PURCHASING A FARM EX-SERVICEMAN'S APPLICATION (0.C.) HAMILTON, Tuesday An assurance that the South Auckland Land Sales Committee would not be responsible for any delay in connection With the transaction was given by the chairman, Mr. N. A. Ching, today, when the first application for the approval of a land sale heard in Hamilton came before the committee. The applicant was an ex-serviceman and he had been granted a loan of £2900 with which to buy a farm, as a going concern. The State Advances Corporation had recommended the sale. The committee reserved its decision. The chairman stated that the committee would go out of its way to expedite any application made by an ex-serviceman. Fifteen applications for the approval of the sale of house properties were received. The chairman later stated that the purpose of the Act was being achieved by keeping values down to the 1942 level. He added that most of the applications dealt with had been granted. RESERVE BANK RETURN STERLING £1,341,641 HIGHER (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday The Reserve Bank return for the week ended Monday, November 29. with variations in the figures compared with those in the previous week's statement is as follows:

LIABILITIES Variation. Gen. reserve £ £ 1,500,000 Same Bank notes . 35.523.186 +573,294 Demand liabilities— State . 15,447.751 -432,005 Banks . 28,334.173 -650,935 Other 559,57S + 16,477 Other currencies 827,238 + 788,258 Other liabilities 1,830,252 +36,063 Total .. . 84.022,178 +331,154 ASSETS Reserve— Gold 2.801,877 Same Sterling Ex. . 80,431,725 +1,341,611 Subsidiary coin 53,223 -8,446 Advances— Marketing 667,098 +15,452 Other .. 37,735.000 Same Investment .. 10.324,424 Same Other assets 2,008,831 -1,017,393 Total .. . 84,022,178 +331,154 Proportion of reserve to notes and other demand liabilities, •10.502 per cent (39.639 last week). The principal items in this week's return are compared with those at the corresponding date last year in the following table:— (OOO's omitted) 1913 1912 Variation £ £ £ Notes 85,523 28.460 +7,063 DepositsState .. ,. 15,448 9,933 +5,515 Banks .. i. 28,334 18,744 +9,590 Exchange 30,432 20,455 +3,977 Advances—Marketing 1 667 1,398 -731 Other 37,735 24,300 +13,435 Ratio (per cent) 40.502 50.057 -9.555