Evening star., 1938-04-16
RAPID RISE SHOWN
IN NHOME BUILDING
Interest of Prospective
Buyers Running High
in Many Areas.

States has gained rapidly since jan
uary in its comparison with the cor
responding months of 1887 Interest
Of prospective home buyers is running
high in many localities, as evidenced
BY the large volume of inquiries. A
number Of cities report as much home
construction as year ago. and many
report substantial projects involving
In the aggregate thousands Of new
homes. which will break" with any
definite upturn in general business
condition, according to a survey of
home building and sales activity in "a
cities. just completed by Northwestern
National Life Insurance Co.
For the country as a whole, residen-
tial construction in January was only
Is per cent of January. 1897, volume
February. 1888, was 81 per cent of
February, 1887. and in March, volume
climbed to 80 per cent of March, 1887,
residential construction.
Realtors, abstract companies and
loaning institutions reporting in the
survey generally agree that a substan-
tial volume of residential building
projects both for apartment property
as we'll as detached dwellings, awaits
only the green light" of improving
general business activity and employ
ment to 60 ahead. Residential build
Ing activity and the sale of homes al
ready constructed is still well under
the volume of the same time a year
ago, especially in the East, with the
exception of a few active areas such
as Baltimore and Washington; the
South shows up somewhat better in
the survey, particularly Miami. Rich
mond, Va. Little Rock. Ark, and New
Orleans. There are few more bright
spots in the Central and Middle West,
such as Minneapolis and st. Paul each
Of which shows many more new homes
building than year ago. and Tulsa;
the same spotty condition holds for the
Southwest and Pacific Coast. with
Dallas. and the San Francisco and Los
Angeles suburban communities show
Ing considerable activity.
Some Are Optimistic. :,
A tremendous volume of inquiries
has been stimulated in many communl-
ties by amendment to the Federal
Housing Act and the resulting pub
licity: some observers are optimistic as
to it's results; others report that the
vast majority of the inquiries and the
actual applicants are unable to qualify,
To- oly Of no Gnu-n
ment or because of insufficient finan-
cial responsibility to insure completion
Of the building contemplated.
In general, over the entire country,
vacancies in homes and apartments
remain at a remarkably low percent
age, though some doubling up" of
families is reported. Many of the in
stitutions furnishing information for
the report state that rents are still
considerably short of parity with pres
ent high building costs, and mention
that rents are falling again while
building costs are holding firm or in
some localities actually increasing
Nearly all cities on the Pacific Coast
mention labor difficulties as one of
LIlS uSlbiISIlUS w pioJSStco
operations. Numerous observers in
various cities of the country refer to
the considerable volume of foreclosed
homes, both H. o. L. c. and privately
owned, which are overhanging the
realty market.
In the East, Baltimore and Wash
ington report active residential build
49, - al 10 hn q
year ago, while Bridgeport. Hartford
and Pittsburgh report moderate ac-
tivity, though less than last year at
this time. In the South Richmond.
Va, with 100 homes now being built;
Little Rock, Ark; Miami and St.
Petersburg, Fla, and New Orleans are
particularly bright spots in home
building and home selling activity,
while Raleigh, N. c.; Memphis, Tenn,
and Jackson, Miss, report fair activity.
Others Are Hopeful.
There is considerable optimism in
Cleveland, Columbus and Springfield,
Ohio, due to the great volume of in
quiries from prospective home build
ers and home purchasers at present.
Chicago reports little activity in the
city itself, but number of projects,
involving from S to so small homes
each, in outlying suburbs Minnea-
polls and st. Paul and Tulsa, Okla,
oil report considerable speculative
home buildings already under way. In
Minneapolis permits have been taken
out for l48 new homes in the first
three months of this year, compared
with III in the corresponding period
Of last year. In st. Paul the total is
1l0 homes. compared to SO in the first
quarter of 1887. Dallas, Tex: San
Francisco suburban communities and
Los Angeles suburbs all report fair
activity in building and sale of homes.
The demand that exists at present
Is almost entirely confined to homes
In the low-priced bracket. according
to the report. A much greater per-
oentage Of the existing demand is for
complete homes than in previous
years, a smaller percentage of buyers
are interested in purchasing their own
home sites and building on them in
dividually. This is, of course, much
more true in the case of larger cities;
home building by the individual on his
own lot is still the rule in the smaller
communities.