Evening star., 1925-09-19
DISTRICT DROPS BELOW
PRIOR BUILDING RECORD
Slumps to Tenth Place Among Leading
Cities, Despite Big Showing
Made in August.

Despite the fact that building in
the District Of Columbia was more
than S2,5O0.000 ahead last August
over the same month in 1924, the Ma
tional Capital dropped to tenth place
among the leading cities of the coun-
try in point of building construction.
Washington has been holding an
average OF seventh place. occasionally
jumping to sixth and falling back to
eighth.
The big booms in Miami. Fla. and
at Long Beach are responsible in the
main for Washington dropping back
rather than any Stacking of the big
building activities in Washington.
Newark. y. j.. also took a squirt for
ward
Construction in Washington during
last August amounted to s5,964, ,l15 as
compared with s3.43O.01S Last
months total was more than $50, 900
more than the previous month, July,
which indicates that the building
boom here is still keeping up.
Permits i'm 316 Cities.
August permits in 3T6 cities and
towns eSia bHShed a new record for
that month. with gain of IS per cent
over August, 1924. The total was
S39l ,45S.707. a gain of S107. .547 .53S over
August last year. Every region of
the country. nearly all States. most
large cities and hundreds of smaller
places. showed gains
In the East III cities had total
OF s1SS.237.946 compared with Sis
114,S95 in August. 1924. an increase of
% per cent. In the central Ill cities
had total of S1OS. SIG. compared
to $50, ,5S6.2T0, an increase Of y per
cent. In the South - cities had a
total OF S5l .062 1922. compared to f33.-
S74.457. an increase of 81 per cent.
In the Pacfic West 20 cities had A
total Of s43 3.564623. compared to s42,-
335,547. an increase of ) per cent.
Seven Of the u strictly Southern
States showed gains. including Ala
hama, Arkansas and Florida. which
had a gain of over fifteen and 4 half
million dollars: Kentucky, Mississippi,
South Carolina and Texas.
Clea rwater, Fla. which is for the
first time reported in the survey. had
an August increase Of 1.166 per cent
the highest proportionate gain of any
place in the country. The % lead
ing Southern cities as a unit. had a
total of S43. 1852 600, gain of per
cent over August. 1924. Miami led
in volume with a total of over Sc. 900.
600 for the month. Houston was
second in volume West Palm Beach
third. Tampa fourth and St. Peters
burg fifth
Some Of the notable percentages
of gain were: West Palm Beach.
797; Orlando, 657: Hollywood. $40:
Miami Beach, 4S3; st. Petersburg. 23S:
Tampa. 207, and Houston. 145.
Some other cities showing substan-
tial percentages of increase were:
New York. 1873; Chicago. Al; Newark
\. j., 1855: Miami. II; Tampa, 2o7;
Houston, 145; Minneapolis, 80: Long
Beach. 476: Boston, 55: Columbus
Ohio. 265: Washington, d. c.. 73: st.
Louis, S5. and Cincinnati, 123.
Upward Trend in Material Noted
Pronounced upward tendencies char
acterized the building material market
during August. In fact. August was
the first month since February that
the market has exhibited consistent
strength over almost its entire field.
The few downward movements which
occurred were of minor consequence
The greater part Of the market was
either unchanged from July or
worked to higher levels.