SOUTHLAND PROPERTY MARKET.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17120, 15 April 1921, Page 6

SOUTHLAND PROPERTY MARKET.

ACUTE SHORTAGE 01* HOUSES. (SPECIAL TO "1-j8 PBESS.") INVERCAHGILL, April 14. Enquiries mado to-duy show that' tho local property market is slightly easier than it was some months ago, that is to say, tho demand for both houses and Jarras has eased somewhat, but, as yet there is no appreciable fall in prices, as is shown by the following instance quoted by an agent. iSix years ago a man sold a house for £GSO. It was resold two years later for £llsO, and tho present owner has placed it on the market at £I6OO. "Probably he will get it," remarked the agent. "The position is that Invercargill is considerably under-housed, and many couples aro 'rooming it' in hopes that prices will fall, or that more houses will be placed on the market to let. There seems, on present indications, to be little likelihood of tlieoe people realising their hopes it* the immediate future. Very little building is being done, and 0.. i if owners should be forced to sell m a lower figure than they are at present asking, tho demand should still more than counterbalance the supply." Of late there has been von* little movement in the land market, although several agents have numbcre of prospective buyers on their books. These seem to be waiting, however, either until there are better produce prospects, or until prices decline somewhat. In the meantimo Southland farmers do not seem anxious to reduce the values they have placed on their properties, this being particularly the case with men who have been farming for A number of years, and who are in n position to withstand a less prosperous period in expectation of an improvement. -One agent who waR approached declared that intending buyers were inclined to bo a trifle "funky," a jtato of mind that he said would be oncournged by such gloomy forecasts as those attributed to Messrs A. Boyle and i Leicester Matson before the Arbitxntion Court.