Evening star., 1938-10-01
BRITAIN PIONEERS
HOME FINANCING
Plans Which Antedated
F. H. A. Here Are of
Long Standing.

Loans for a high per cent Of valua-
tion and 4 uniform interest rate
throughout the Nation have been sue
oessfully employed in British home
financing for a number OF years, Fed
eral Housing Administrator Stewart
Mcdonald pointed out today.
Individual homes are financed in
Great Britain, Mr.. Mcdonald said, on
plan similar in many respects to
that OF the Federal Housing Adminis-
tration, except lending institutions do
not have the benefit of a mutual mort
gage insurance system such as that
provided by the F. H. A. Mr.. Nc
Donald has just returned from a
visit abroad during which he studied
housing conditions in several coun-
tries
He pointed out that loans for as
much as 80 and 30 per cent of the
valuation of properties have been made
by the British building societies for
years. with negligible losses, although,
when loans Of this kind were discussed
in the United States as little as a year
ago. they were considered a revolu-
tionary step in home financing
methods.
Uniform Low Interest Rate.
Furthermore, Mr.. Mcdonald pointed
out. the building societies, which do
the bulk Of home mortgage lending
in Great Britain, charge uniform
low interest rate, similar to the per
cent maximum interest rate eStab-
lished by the F. H. A. program. which
lending institutions making insured
mortgage loans now charge
The Federal Housing AdminiStra-
ton, he said, has succeeded in bring
ing interest rates down to a uniform
ly low level In the United States, even
In areas where lending institutions for
merly charged nearly twice as much
rs now. Hidden charges. also, such as
renewal fees and other costs, have
been eliminated under the F. H. A.
plan, just as under the British build
ing program, he said
Houses in Great Britain are sold
through long-term mortgages Of 20
years or more on q financing plan
quite similar to the F. H. A. system"
Mr.. Mcdonald said. The loans are
granted for high percentages of the
value Of the properties. making it
possible for people with small incomes
to buy their own homes without hav-
ing to save large amount of money
to pay down. The F. H. A. plan also
provides for loans made for a high
per cent Of property valuation, per-
mitting small down payments. Un-
der both plans these loans are repaid
In regular installments.
Standard Model Houses.
British houses are built after a
standard model. There are two-family
houses, four-family, six-family and
occasionally eight family, but each
home is an individual unit. precisely
the same as the others as far as di-
mensionS and general construction
are concerned. We have avoided this
in the United States for fear the mo-
notony would discourage ready sales.
But there is no monotony in Brit
ain. The houses are grouped har-
moniously and pleasantly in irregular
areas, or facing on curved streets with
grass plots and landscaping They
have backyard gardens and in most
instances are decorated with flower
boxes. The similarity is further dis
pelled by the different color of roofs,
window trimming and other details
Lawns and shrubs play an important
part in the scheme Of architecture.
I'm some ways the British suburbs
are more pleasing to the eye, and give
the impression Of = more substantial
construction. than many American
suburbs which consist of an assortment
OF architectural efforts in all kinds of
materials and styles On the other
hand British houses do not often have
central heating, nor do they have as
many built-in conveniences or rs
modern equipment as ours"