HOUSES TO LET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16423, 11 May 1921, Page 6

HOUSES TO LET.

BUT NOTHINC CHEAP. INFLUENCE OF MONEY MARKET. “ We have houses to let,” announced a city property agent the other day. Inquiries promptly followed, but the number of suitors for the leases was comparatively small as the result of the disclosure of the rent required. There were practically no houses to let at 30s a week or less.

That building is overtaking the demand for houses is a conclusion which does not seem warranted by the resumption of house letting. For the past two or three years it has been exceptional for a property agent to have a. house to let on his books, and advertisements of houses to let have brought phenomenal rushes of wouldbe tenants. Often it has only been necessary to whisper to a neighbour that a bouse is to let to ensure quick arrival of an applicant for the lease. Seldom has the matter gone further than a small advertisement in a newspaper. This has been chiefly due to the fact that, the demand for houses being acute, the owners have taken the generally preferable course of selling, either on terms or for cash, and the letting of houses has gone out of favour among them. Thus the army of people who could not buy, or did not desire to do so, was responsible for the acute demand for houses to let. Tightness of the money market seems to bo the main cause for the present offers to let houses. Their owners, finding it difficult to effect a sale, and for various causes desiring to realise moneV on their properties, have decided to let them rather than have them on their hands empty and unproductive. For about a fortnight nasi a city firm has had houses to let. * There are probably a number of owners who bought for speculation, and, being apprehensive of a falling market, decided to offer to sell on a comparatively small deposit—say £loo—at prices which would have brought cash last September. Others have decided to offer the leases. For a £I6OO house from £2 5s to £2 10s per week rent is being asked Tn some cases it will possibly pay people to take the lease. They argue that later oil they will be able to*buy on a falling market and thus save perhaps £250 to £3OO which will make up for the rent paid in the interim, and “ then some.” House prices have dropped, and they may drop again. The cause of the drop is not because houses can be built cheaper than they can be bought. No great activity in building is observable, and costs are still high. Owners want money in their hsind3. That is at the bottom of the whole thing. Sale of houses “ on terms ” seems a. popular method of disposing of them, and recently many suburban residences have been offered at from £SO deposit and 20s a week upward.