SCARCITY OF HOUSES.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 June 1919, Page 9

SCARCITY OF HOUSES.

AND COST OF BUILDING. Auckland. May 27. The scarcity of houses and high cost of building continue to occupy considerable attention in Auckland. Owing to Hie groat increase in (lie cost of material and labor, very little building if now going on. "It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of pounds' worth of prospective work, representing all classes of buildings, is hung up in Auckland architects' offices to-day owing to the increased cost of building," stated a member of the Builders' Association in an interview. "In quite a number of cases, again, the builders have not been able to get enough v.rik to keep going and have had to give up and take on farming or some other occupation. Despite the efforts of the architects tc avoid all unnecessary expenditure, and of the contractors to keep down their estimates to a safety margin, it has been a common thing for the former to find whan tenders are opened that the cost is altogether beyond the price of the owner." One architect states that, as a result of the increased cost of materials, a house costing, perhaps', £;>00 oiahteen months ago could not now be erected in the plainest design for less .than £BOO, or even more. An instance was given of a five-roomed bungalow which cost the owner £IOOO, which before the war would probably have been erected for little over half the money. Kven the plainest tyrie of house of four or five rooms would now cost about *.C7<lO. The increased cost of building is held to be primarly due to the increased cost of materials, although one or two authorities interviewed held firmly to the opinion that since the war labor difficulties have increased the cost of building even more than the high price of materials. Dealing with the cost of materials, one of the most important items cited was timber. "I consider that the price of timber has increased out of all proportion to the cost of procuring it and converting it into sawn timber," said the builder. "I know the cost of labor and machinery have contributed largely to the higher price, but there does not seem to mo to be sufficient justification for the difference between the prices; obtaining seven or eight years ago and now. Firs.t-elass kauri used to cost 18s per 100 ft. The same to-day costs a nominal minimum of 37s Bd, with an increase of 2s for specified lengths." With reference to the importation of limner from the North Pacific Coast, it was; stated that increased freights and shipping difficulties had now brought the price of this timber up to that of firstclass kauri. A great increase had also taken place in the price of bricks, roofing iron, and paint, quite apart from the direct result of war conditions, as; a factor in the increased cost of house building. A great difference in the construction and design of a modern house was held by one authority to be largely responsible for the prices now ruling. "People to-day simply will not tolerate a simple, old-fashioned style," he taid. "They insist on a better class of house altogether; a better appearance, a bettei finish; and T think it a very good Uiing they do. Another point is the aversion to anything in the nature of standardisation. To build on a large scale, as in any housing system, it is absolutely necessary, if the houses are to return any profit, that they follow some standardised plan and principle, and that is exactly what peoplo object to. They no more wish to have a house like their neighbor than they want to follow his taste in clothes or anything else. A prevailing samenots in design i£9M of, the maui reasons) wb,y_ houaeg.

could be Duiit so cheaply in past years" As an instance of thin, the building of a terrace of houses.' not far from Queen Street was cited. In 1870 a local builder erected five four-roomed houses, with a verandah in front and a porch at the back, for the gross sum of £5lO. To build any one of these cottages to-day, and even on the same plan, he said, would very closely approximate to the original cost of the whole lot.