New Britain herald., 1922-12-09
faneolal to rhe Heraldl.

Wellesley Hills. Mass, Dec. D. There has been much discussion o late as to whether the building boon has spent itself. Roger w. Babsof evidently doesn't think 1t has. IT commenting today on the buildint outlook he called attention to severa bullish factors.
 New building" says Babson, "'' the outstanding feature of our busl' ness recovery. It Is what started ui on the road to better business. Never before in the history of the conntr, have so many new houses been buil' as in tho first ten months of ls22 For every house that was built II, 1921. two have been built this year Last year in 27 northeastern states of the country we spent $eSS,ooo'ooo for homes; this year we have already spent SI,o99, 100000 and when the gong rings on December si. the total will very likely show 1oofe more than in 1921.
 ..This building revival is not con fined to houses either House buiid- ing has been the most spectacular hut we have also built many more or fees factories, schools, hospitals churches, amusement halls, public roads, bridges, reservoirs, memorials in fact, all kinds of construction Whereas our normal building total IS about ss,O00, 100000, the end Of this year. we shall have built to the extent of 5000. 1000, ,ooo."
 When asked if he did not think that we have already oyer-done this puild- ing boom, MT. Babson replied:
 T do not think so yet. look Tor continued building activity, both in residential and business building TOT the greater part of 1923. Beyond that time, I expect decline. A sur yey just made by the National associa- ton of real estate boards shows that, out of a total of 1S4 cities scattered over the country, 121 cities stiil re- port a housing shortage. or the re- naining 63 cities, 53 report no short age and only 10 moderate shortage. This study corroborates my oplnioa that there is still much residential building to be done. although the peak may have passed"
 What about rents?" MT. Babson was asked.
 "High rents have probably passed their peak. The long swing Will pc downward. Here again it is ques- tion of supply and demane The com ing decline in rents will not be abrupt at least, not until this building boom has supplied more of the shortage. Rental advances for the present are slightly more numerousA&han declines, but in the majority ofSHties there IS no movement either up or down. Gradually. of course. the trend will turn downward as the demand is more fully supplied. Industrial and business rents show surprising stiffness due 10 business recovery, but these do not indicate any long continued advance.
 T am particularly optimistic Witn regard to suburban building develop ment. The boom in city building VIII nrobably not last more than year, hut suburban building is dinerent- Auto traffic is so congested in the big cities that shoppers had rather trace in suburban stores than drive Into the heart of our great cities.
 "City dwellers are looking TOT bomes in the country cannot eH- phasize too strongly the importance or this tendency toward suburban ex- pansion."
 The statistician was asked what ef- feet building material prices and la bor would be likely to have on the building outlook.
 That's where the danger lies" he replied. Unless prices of building m materials are kept down at least near present levels, the people will stop building, just as they did in 1s2o. Tn fact, | do not think we will see quite so much building next year unless there is some reduction in costs. Dur ing the next few months material prices should show some seasonal weakness But as sure as the mater ial dealers start in to boost prices next summer, they will choke off their business. The same warning applies to labor. Wages are already as high as they can be and still allow much building. Both labor and material men should realize that it is better for them tohave steady building at mod crate profits than it is to have short spurt of building at high profits, fol- lowed by long period of idleness.
 However, what interests me as much as anything is the necessity Of eliminating the waste in time, labor, and materials in the building business. I firmly believe that a saving of l5% to 25% in the cost of building could