HOUSING IN SYDNEY

Southland Times, Issue 21090, 23 May 1930, Page 8

HOUSING IN SYDNEY

“TO LET” SIGNS IN THOUSANDS

Sydney, May 9.

If, as some profess to believe is the case, the present depression is merely the result of a scheme to bring about lower wages, the fact remains that, in proportion to its investment, building, business, and other risks, capital is to-day being more severely hit than Labour. Thousands of houses round Sydney, for example, bearing the sign, “To Let,” tell their own story. The effect of this has been to bring rents down generally. In one industrial suburb alone more than 200 houses are empty. Families whose breadwinners are out of jobs are sharing houses with relatives and friends. Of those who have put their money into property in the metropolis of Sydney the majority are feeling the pinch. They either have houses on their hands, or are compelled to bring their rents down, since they know tenants now have a practically unlimited field. This applies to flats as well as to ordinary dwellings. References from tenants before being allowed to occupy a house, and the payments of bonuses by tenants graciously to be allowed to rent houses are practically tilings of the past.