Land Agency Business Almost At Standstill: Price Controls Blamed

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 13, 16 January 1948, Page 5

Land Agency Business Almost At Standstill: Price Controls Blamed

“Price controls have practicallybrought land agency business to a standstill,” said a local agent when interviewed by a “Beacon” representative this morning. “There are practically no sections in this town on the open market, though there are quite a number that would be for sale were it not for' the rigid price controls in force.” Due also to the increase in population since the last census, the housing problem, which was acute then, has been considerably aggravated, he considers. Another factor in the shortage of houses, he . says, is that from the beginning of the war until quite recently, the building of houses in the Whakatane area has been at a standstill and price controls have kept houses off the market.

According to this agent, the Whakatane. prices are assessed on a 1942 basis, when all the house and property owners, believing tfaat- the market had collapsed, tried to get rid of their liabilities thus creating a minor slump. The number of farms for sale in this district is nil, continued the agent, because the vendprs are afraid to sell in case they are compelled to accept low Court valuations. Also, farmers are doing so well on the new pricqe, that they are reluctant to put their farms c*n the market. “All told, this has been a very lean year in real estate and 1948 promises to be leaner yet,” he concluded gloomily.