Evening star., 1938-11-19
Survey Shows F. H. A.
Home Loans Highest
In Washington
Monthly Payments
For U. S. in 1887
Averaged $32.43

The average home purchased dur
ing 1887 with an F.. H. A. loan cost
S5,067 and carried a monthly pay
ment of only $3243, the Architec-
tural Forum Magazine has revealed
IN the analysis of the Federal Hous-
ing Administration activities. The
District Of Columbia has the highest
average in the country.
The most popular mortgage con-
tracts, the analysis discloses, were
Tor 80 per cent of the property value
and arlortized in 20 years while the
dominant security was the single
family home which accounted for "a
per cent of the 100000 mortgages
written.
"Upholding the messy axiom that
no more than one-flfth OF monthly
income should go for rent" the
Architectural Forum points out, "61
Der cent OF all borrowers pay less
rhan Is per cent of their income for
monthly amortization and interest,
end % per cent pay less than 20 per
cent Of their income.
Pay Under $50 a Month.
"One-fourth of the families buying
homes had incomes between $4,000
and $500. another fourth had in
comes OF less than $4,000. Since this
Group commonly has small savings,
l. eau achieve home ownership only
wnen the monthly costs are small.
And .537 mortgages insured by F..
II. A. provided just that-over so
per cent of the borrowers are paying
ii.:Ger $50 Il month. leaving plenty
oi leeway for operating and main
tenance costs.
Somewhat above these most pop
ular groups of mortgage character
istics are the average figures. The
average borrower had a middle class
income and purchased a house we'll
within his means. More light is cast
on this borrower in a synopsis of
the 1887 average mortgage trans
action on the single-family, F. H. A.
insured home:
Borrowers income e-------$3 ,O45
Total property value ------- 1894
Ratio of value to income----- 1.8
Monthly payment----------$32. .43
Mortgage loan 4,541
House value 5,O65
Land value 913
Plot area $50. fto------- 9.199
Per cent of land coverage----- 1876
The first four items refer to pre-
MUM paying mortgages on new and
refinanced homes: the last five to
mortgages accepted for insurance
solely on new homes" the Archi-
tectural Forum explains. although
not entirely comparable, together
they provide a good sample of 1875
greatest mortgage activity.
Average Value Is S5.384.
"The average value of the single
family homes on which the F. H. A.
insured mortgages was 1884. Aver
age value per dwelling unit OF two
family houses that were insured
was 1922: of the three-family. ST.
767: of the tour-family. S2.789. Even
for families of low income, the illu-
sion of independence implied in the
free-standing house apparently car
ries more weight than low cost.
THE most popular type of new
one-family houses had five rooms
40 per cent?; six rooms came Sec
ond 80 per cent?. Three-quarters
of them had one bathroom; one
half had a one-car garage. The
proportion of the lot covered by the
house was generally low: so per
cent of the dwellings covered less
than 20 per cent of the lot, 80 per
cent covered less than 80 per cent.
1T is interesting to note that as
total value of the houses and lots
increased up to $4,000 the area of the
'ot decreased from 11,700 square
teet for properties valued at less
than $4,000 to 5000 square feet for
those in the $1,000 range" the
architectural Forum comments. In
lact. the cheapest houses were built
cn larger lots than were houses
Dsting $4,000 and more.
Consequently, the most expensive
houses covered greater proportion
# the lot than did the cheaper ones.
ut even the smaller lots would
eem extravagant in the average
lbdivision-the area resolving into
imensions of 75x10O feet.
The reason for the decrease in
ot sizes as costs increase in the
over brackets was probably the
.radual shift of location to more
select and higher priced neighbor-