THE INCREASE IN RENT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11644, 23 August 1905, Page 5

THE INCREASE IN RENT.

Khcbnnection witlTMr Tregear|s remarks about' the burden of house rent, a- Christchurch Press representative saw several house agents with a view of -ascertaining their opinions as to the causes of .this increase. "There is not the. slightest doubt," said one agent in reply to the reporter's question, "that rents have increased, from 20 per cent to 25 per cent during the.past five or six years. That increase has been in all classes of house, property, the labourer's cottage as well as the villa residence. As to the causes, I can only give you the facts as I observe them. Undoubtedly the increased. wages paid to men employed in the building trade and the in- . creased cost of building- material have affected rents. At the same time these industrial conditions are so interlinked that it is difficult to say that one or the other is the direct cause of the 'increased

rents. There has been a concentration of the people in the city .during , the period I have mentioned, and the' demand for houses has' always exceeded the supply. Even at present the demand for houses' is well sustained. Increased rents, however, do not always mean that the landlord is reaping an additional profit. Notwithstanding that rent's have increased, the owners of house properties are not getting" any more out of their properties at present as compared with five or six years ago, owing to the increased cost of repairs and the increase of rates and taxes." Another agent said workmen's cottages of four rooms can be rented at present from 7s to'- 12s per week, and he was pretty certain that similar properties could not have been rented cheaper five or six years ago 1 .' 1 Villa residences were being let at" present from 15s to % 20s per week, and here" again there was no difference as compared with five or six years ago. He cited several instances from his books in support of his contention. In 1900 an ideal workman's cottage in a suburb was let for 10s r per week, the same rent as is now" being obtained, and there .was no increase in the rent in the interval. In 1901' a house was rented at 12s 6d per week; now, though it is in much the same condition, only 11s is being received. As showing that houses cannot now be built as cheaply as they could eight years agof'a'pionfilient b'uilde'r' informed "the reporter' that the average wage to-day is 11s. In addition, lie asserted that employers just now can only get about twothirds of the work out of their . employees as Compared with several years ago. In an important item in the construction of houees — timber — there has been an appreciable' increase. Eight years ago timber could"be shipped from the West Coast at 5a p"er 100 ft superficial; to : day the same timber costs 7s.