THE PROPERTY MARKET

Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1927, Page 9

THE PROPERTY MARKET

DEMAND FOR HOUSES QUIET MORE DWELLINGS AVAILABLE. SMALL DEPOSITS OFFERED. “It’s dull,” said a land agent, when asked by a reporter to-day for his opinion of the property market. The houses most people wanted were priced between £709 and £lOO9, and the deposits they were prepared to pay ranged from £5O up to £lOO. However, most of the owners wanted more than that, something in the vicinity of £3OO. On the other hand another agent sold three houses for cash last week, the amounts changing hands being £ll5O, £950 and £B5O. The buyers were retired farmers. “People like the bungalow, with conveniences, these days,” the reporter was told. “They are beginning to pick and choose, even for renting, and they steer away from houses of the old type.” The same man considered that, though places to rent were unquestionably more p! ntiful, the rentals had not come down as much as some people thought. So far as selling was concerned, there was no doubt that there was not the cash available for t'he more expensive kind of house. Broad acres were the investment to tackle now, said another authority. No one was bothering about them much just now and prices must be down to a very safe level. Whereas £l5OO put into a house needed an income to meet the interest on a depreciating property, the same amount invested in a small farm would give some return; it would keep the wolf from the door. The demand for houses had been easy for some time, and there were some for which neither purchasers nor tenants could he found. Nominal deposits and very easy terms were what the majority were looking for. One or two inquiries had been made for small farms, the reporter was informed from several sources. Generally the position explained may be summed up by saying that we are now returning to normal times after the boom, but for the moment business may be a little quiet, though not absolutely stagnant. The price of butter-fat is the financial barometer of Taranaki. It was pointed out that in the property market the highest prices offered usually set the standard. Thus the Government forced up the price of land when buying for repatriation purposes and retired people of wealth accomplished the same thing in the house market. Now cash was not so plentiful and buyers looked at every pound many times before they parted with it. They wanted the utmost value for every 20s.