SUPPLY OF HOUSES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19478, 24 December 1925, Page 3

SUPPLY OF HOUSES

CONDITIONS IN AUCKLAND. PRIVATE BUILDING FINANCE. It is a long while since a list of nearly 60 houses to let has been displayed publicly in Auckland. One was to be seen on Monday in a land agent’s window, states the ‘‘New Zealand Her- •• prised 58 houses, 25 of 11; u fui 1 and 33 unfurnished. It- very exigence showed that for ] -ople whose i.-quirements are not too • xaeting and v. h > are prepared to pay : rental of, say £2 a week, there really is no house-shortage. It has to be roneded that the list of furnished houses to h-t would not be so large at any other time of the year. Just now scores of families are setting off for a month or two at rhe seaside, and many of them arc willing, even anxious to let their lio.;m s for that period. Family events • . various kinds account for other such houses being on the market. The unfurnished houses to let which used once to be as scarce as the proverbial hen’s teeth, require some more explanation. Land agents freely admit that very few of them are of the kind that most people want, that is to say, modern bungalows of four or five rooms, with up-to-date appointments, and in not too distant suburbs. Most houses to let are either rather old-fashionel, rather large, or a long way from the city. Not that some excellent dwellmg< are nor to be had in this way, but 11 generalisation is admittedly a fair one. 1 he fa«’t L that building has gone on very rapidly of late. Many householders have given up paying rent and have moved out to new houses of their own, or almost their own. in the outer suburbs. This has thrown numbers of older dwellings on to the rental market. New suburban houses are not built to iet. and if the occupier of one decides for any reason to leave he has not much trouble in selling his interest. Cottages on the Outskirts. The terms which some land agents and speculative builders are offering leave little temptation to go on paying rent, provided the householder does not mind living a god distance out in a rather undeveloped neighbourhood. One agent stated that his firm could provide a four-roomed house of the cheaper kind, with porcelain bath, laundry, and electric light, five miles from the Chief Post Office, for £950 oomplete, on a £5O or even £25 deposit. The purchaser of such a home could wipe off his indebtedness sa far as the builder was concerned, in about ten years, although it would take him longer to pay for the land. Tho weekly charge would work out at from 35s to £2 a week. Asked how it was possible to work on such a small deposit, the agent said that plenty of money was available for building investments at the current rate of 7 per cent. It had been found that the man who was paying off his liability on a small house was extremely punctual and conscientious about it, even more so than the large man. in fact. Many of the builders who put up such houses wore working men themselves, and their overhead expenses

[were very small indeed. If they could 1 make good wages on the job and something besides, they were satisfied. In .many instances they took a second ; mortgage and discounted it—usually ; not a difficult matter. ! The result was an economical system jof finance which met the needs of the icase quite well without help from thiGovernment. If the State Advances Department enlarged the scope of its i business by means of its new loan, the process might be interfered with to some extent, but more Government . loans would be available. Not for the “Bottom Dog.’’ The hard fact remains that the “bottom dog.” the man without capital who cannot afford to pay 35s or £2 a week in rent, finds it hard to obtain a house of any kind. Only very small and old cottages can be let for less than the lower figure mentioned. Very poor would-be tenants are at a disadvantage, in that the landlord, as the law stands at present, has no security for his rent, since he cannot distrain over furniture unless it can be proved that the tenant has £25 worth. According to one authority who explained the situation, unscrupulous people have abused this privilege to sueh an extent that unless a prospective tenant has a good deal of furniture no one will let him a house. What is left of the war-time rent-re-stiction legislation does not apply to new transactions, but it is felt that so long as the law interferes with the ordinary relations between landlord and tenant no houses will be built for rental purposes, as many were in years gone bv.