The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-19

Not in twenty years has there been
such a scarcity of houses in st. Paul
as there is at the present time.
With May 1, moving day." less than
two weeks away, the rental agents of
the city are at their wits ends to
know what to 90 With the hundreds Of
applicants for houses who are daily
crowding their offices. Agents who are
informed as to the situation say that
500 new houses could be rented be-
tween now and the first of May, and
at better prices than have been paid
in years. The demand is for all classes
of houses, but the greatest demand
is from the laboring classes.
While many houses for rental pur-
poses and many new fiat buildings
have been erected during the past year,
the supply is not equal to the demand,
which is greater this spring than for
years.
As result of the scarcity of houses
there will be little moving this spring.
People who are already in the posses
sion of houses realize that it is al
most impossible to secure others. and
in nearly every instance they are pay
ing a material increase in rent in order
to keep their houses. In many in
stances the rent has been advanced %
per cent. and in some cases the in
crease has been as high as so per cent.
Where the present renters are not
willing to pay the advance demanded,
they are asked to Vacate and the
house is at once taken by people who
are only too glad to get the places at
any price.
The localities in which the more
moderate priced houses are in the
greatest demand are in the vicinity of
the new Great Northern shops and on
the plateau on the West side. Out
near the Great Northern shops there is
not house of any kind to be had, but
there are many vacant lots in that
locality and preparations are being
made for the erection of large num-
Der of cottages to be tenanted by the
shop employees. Many of the proposed
new cottages are being spoken for be-
fore the work of constructing them is
commenced.
That there has been a large flow of
laborers into the city during the past
few months is indicated by the I'M
precedented demand for houses which
rent from SO to SIS per month. The
completion of two new railroads into
st. Paul during the past year is large
ly responsible for this condition, al
though all of the Industrial establish
ments in the city are said to be en-
ploying more men this year than at
On account of this scarcity of rent
able houses, many people who belong
to the laboring class are preparing to
build small homes of their own, and
what is a surprise to the dealers, "a
large percentage of these people are
paying cash for their homes. Even
where the money has to be borrowed,
it is much cheaper for the buyer than
paying rent at the figures which will
be asked this summer. A large num-
Der of houses are being erected in diff
ferent parts of the city. but the num-
Der is not great enough to relieve the
situation, and 1t is thought by the
agents that the fall demand for houses
will be fully as great as the present
one.
The scarcity Of houses in the resi-
dence districts is almost equaled by
the scarcity of stores in the business
section of the city. A good business
location is as hard to find as a good
house, and for this reason the advance
in rents for this class of property has
been very marked.