Show 1 11 1 iii i i i i i i i i i i iii It If Seems To Me liy Ity Joseph B. B Roberts Hobert 1 1 1 11 m 1111 1 11 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 Housing costs COPYRIGHT 1977 Contemporary Features Syndicate Inc If you plan to lo buy or build a ahouse ahouse ahouse house any time within the next decade you would be prudent to todo todo todo do it now This is the consensus of home builders real estate brokers and money lenders across the na nation tion The reason given for advising potential home owners to invest now rather than later is the predicted increase in the price of a decent place to live By Dy 1982 or 84 the priced median-priced house may cost to Today the priced median-priced house sells for The National Association of Realtors reported the median sales price of existing resale homes in 1976 was but better than 28 percent of the single family homes sold were priced at or more Already only about 26 percent of all American families are earning incomes sufficient to enable them to buy the median- median priced home Less Las than seven years ago nearly 50 percent could afford aCCord it In the next five to seven years if present trends continue very few probably no nomore nomore nomore more than 15 percent will be beable beable beable able to purchase a single-family single home What has been happening and will continue unless the federal government and private enterprise can make some drastic changes is family income income income in in- come has not kept pace with the astronomical increases in housing costs While family income increased 47 percent since 1970 housing costs increased jn percent General inflation of course has been one of the factors that caused the priced median-priced house to jump from in 1970 to lo today but It Isn't the only one It Isn't even the principal one Land values have zoomed outstripping the rate of general Inflation by a mile Simply put we are running out of land in the areas where most people want to live Desirable building sites are becoming harder and harder to come by Consequently the old law of supply and demand has pushed up land values everywhere Add to that the fact that land developers and builders are encountering delays and extra costs caused by governments at all levels- levels from county city-county zoning boards and building codes to federal agencies Rigid regulations that dictate what can be built where it can be built and how it can be built have sent prices soaring especially for single-family single dwellings in desirable locations The builders say they could construct less expensive but entirely ad adequate quate housing if they were not hamstrung by the bureaucrats who impose environmental environmental environmental en en- safety and other costly restrictions on their work Another factor is the cost of mortgage money which economists predict will go up even more as business industry and government compete for forthe forthe forthe the available capital to finance their own expanding needs Gone are the days when an individual buyer could get a 20 or year 30 loan at 6 percent unless the proposed graduated mortgage is adopted by Congress There is an ample supply of mortgage money available right now however and interest interest interest in in- terest rates are lower than they have been in recent years which is another reason for buying now rather than later And dont don't overlook the fact that our population continues to grow Already the demand for housing is much greater than the supply and there is very little likelihood the situation will improve during the next decade Heavy demand has caused housing costs tests to rise at a rate of about 2 percent a month Talk about double-digit double inflation At that rate costs are almost doubled every four years Buy or build now if you can or you may have to lo pay for that little vine-covered vine cottage |