Evening star., 1933-12-30
CREDIT LOOSEN|NG
IS SEEN FOR 1884
Residential Real Estate Price
Is Expected to Soar Next
Year.

Lowered taxes on homes. a gradual
loosenlng up of home mortgage credit
and unprecedented emphasis upon new
trends in materials and patterns for
homes are all in the offing for 1884, ac-
cording to Philip Lieber of Shreveport,
President of the United States Build
ing and Loan League.
Mr.. Lieber today sent a New Year
prospectus about these things to the
leagues $500 member building and
loan associations. He added to his list
the practical certainty that the prices
OF residential real estate will go up and
that home construction is going to in
crease considerably.
During the past year the preliminary
report Of the Committee on Double Tax
alton of the House Ways and Means
Committee was published and should
have far-reaching effect upon reliev-
ing the home owner from some of his
uneven portion of the tax burden,
said Mr.. Lieber. At last. after many
years of haranguing and lambasting.
We are dealing with facts in regard to
hCme taxation, and therefore we have
much better chance to accomplish a
fair reduction. The leagues Commit
tee on Home Taxation collected some
very valuable data to aid this program
Ou1 Ll4S tIlt past year.
Lay Boom Groundwork
There are substantial reasons to be-
lieve that employment will not be al
lowed to lag in 1884. The impetus Of
the United States Governments ac-
tivities will push toward an increase of
employment in private business. Some
straws indicate that we are going to lay
the groundwork in 1884 for the greatest
boom the country has ever seen. Credit
expansion, or credit imitation. to meet
the damned up demand for homes,
railroad supplies and other longtime
goods can take place very rapidly, en-
ployment will make it possible for thou
sands of families which have loans on
their homes to resume their old sched-
ule Of monthly payments to the building
ana loan association. This will mean
the opening up OF one OF the normal
sources from which money comes into
the home mortgage field, the continu-
GUS repayment of the principal sum
loaned out OF course, the increasing
number of associations affiliating with
the Federal Home Loan Banks is af
fording more outlets for the additional
funds which this system makes avail
able for home credit.
THE new prefabricated houses of steel.
composition materials and new types of
stone; the tendency to use roofs for
gardens and recreation purposes, the
new compact interiors, the air-condi-
tioning devices and insulation processes
will be important influences in 1884.
Some of these trends are reducing the
cost of home units. They will not rele-
gate to the past the good values in ex-
isting homes. but will arouse an inter-
iy,rr
has not characterized this country for
a decade. 1t is our duty to guide that
interest into the channels of genuine
desire for owner occupancy of home,
Giverting it from any possibilities of
bringing on unhealthy speculation.
Home Building Jagged"
During the next II months we will
not see a home construction boom, but
there will be a considerably increased
building program. This has a double
Importance, not only in supplying some
OF the normal need, but in its poSSibili-
ties for putting men to work. Home
construction has Jagged for four years
and in some sections there is practically
a shortage of one-family homes. The
coincidence of increased employment,
more available mortgage money and
the possibilities Of good house at
smaller unit cost will make 1884 the
year of the upturn. The new houses
are showing the family of moderate
means that they can have less elab-
crate house. and yet comfortable one,
and therefore live within their means.
while new trends in home building
are tending to reduce the cost in this
way, the price of materials is going up.
During the last month, when the whole
sale price index has fluctuated up and
down within a small radius, building
materials have not shared the general
characteristic; they have continued
steadily upward. This means that the
general tendency of existing real estate
will be toward higher prices