COST OF BUILDING

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14712, 29 July 1921, Page 2

COST OF BUILDING

HOW IT HAS INCREASED. WILL IT COME DOWN? An Indication was given set WellingLon of how tlie cost of bWilding had .rival 1 during Iho pasl. Is"i years by Mr !■'. M;i i-[ in fGovermii'Mril district valuer! when giving evidence before the Assessment Oourl.

Mr .Martin staled that 'tie had been responsible ror the valuation of all property in the Wellington sulwurban areas, and before selling out to assess valuation lie had to fix some leasts to work upon. The sales Ihat wen; hiking place were far in excess of the old Government valuation, and in some cases they were treble that valuaticm. It became necessary on that aecouiai, in order to arrive at something like a reasonable market, value lo ironsides- whether he would allow for Ihe cos (, of replacement of buildings. The o*jsl of replaeernenl was not always a. safe method, hid in connection with buildings, for which there was a great demand, this method of valuation had been adopted in -Hie Old Country and the United Slates. When he look: into consideration Hie sales that ha.fi been made he found that if he allowed anything like a complete building vajue on a reasonable percentage of inrrcase he would have land on which Inouscs were built under the old valuation: valued at something between £SOO and £6OO. whereas sales of adjoining lsmd proved that (hey were not worth half that amount. Continuing, Mr Mailin said that sonic time ago he had some work to do for ttie Imperial Government, necessitating him going back over a. period of 12 years. He found that in 1005. taking the average tive-rooraed house the cost per square foot of floor space was Gs 6d. In 1906 it rose to 6s Bd. and 1007 to 6s lOd. Jfrom July, 1007 to 1908, there was a slight stump in the Dominion, and in consequence Ihe price per square foot dropped to 6s -'id. It advanced, however, again in 1900 to 6s 7d, and had increased steadily since, as the following figures would show: —in 1910, Ihe cost was 7s; 191.1, 7s 2d; 1912, 7s 6d; 19L3, 7s 9d (when the last, valuation was made) : 191 i, 8s 6d; 19 15 10s; 1916, lis 3d; 1917, lis 6d; 1918, 16s 6d: 1919. 17s 6d : 1920, 20s. The same type of building to-day would cost from 20s to 22s Gd per square foot of floor space when the best class of building material was used. The life of a wooden building was approximately 40 years, and he had based the valuing system, which he adopled. on a sliding scale, the lowest being 15s, and ihe highest 20s. Giving evidenese in a subsequent, case, Mr Martin said that he quite believed that the cost of building would come down.