| Show 4 4 V 0 X nop 7 millions ol 01 veterans like mgt maltet osburn 01 detroit who was woun of e d in f normandy want homes of their own most 01 them have con sid erable savings and are rea 0 build 1 prices are within re 1144 W OR strawlee rawles St ta told that L i al e As building aum AM S t s x to Z OOM by AL JEDLICKA and and WALTER SHEAD Ite leased to by jestam New ampey anim ITH a huge postwar WITH building and realty boom in the offing sentiment in the nations capital favors both government and industry working hand in hand to combat the dangers of an inflationary spiral resulting from the tremendous pent up demand for housing already empowered to regulate costs of materials and services the office of price aan administration has sought the additional authority to control the sales price of finished homes and used buildings unless granted such permission the agency argues its check over the industry would be imperfect and antram belled speculation would undo und 0 t the 1 lc benefits obtained by the 0 other t her re regulations g u bitterly resisting rations dat ions lons private builders asserted that further controls over the industry would result in a di of prospective construction while the problem is one of stimulating more rather the industry argued OPA and other government agencies should concentrate upon the increase of supplies and manpower to provide a basis for all out construe construction in the midst of the controversy director der stepped in to announce that the administration favored a program embracing present government regulation of materials and services with no supervision over prices of fini finished shea homes and used buildings unless proven needed burden of mortgages in arguing tor for authority over ing of 0 final sales OPA pointed to world war I 1 records which not only showed a decrease in construction as costs rose but also emphasized the serious gerlous mortgage problems later growing from the original over aaion of homes according to OPA figures building material prices showed a per cent increase from 1914 to 1920 with more than half of the therise rise occurring after the armistice at the same time total construction costs mounted per cent from 1913 to 1920 with three quarters of the boost coming after the end of hostilities As a result of the inflationary spiral OPA said actual home construction tt st toppled from the peak figure of units in 1919 to a year later while prices auto mati a cally fell ell with the dro drop p in building activity they remained relatively high with another reces areces lion setting in around 1926 against this record of world war 1 I OPA cited the accomplishments during the present conflict when government control of material costs held price increases to 31 per cent from august 1939 of this total a 67 per cent rise occurred after issuance of the famous hold the line order of may 1943 meanwhile the increase in hi construction tt st costs to only 34 per cent since august 1939 with only ra a limited amount of building done to accommodate necessary needs huge uge demand short supplies in contemplating the need for control over sales ales prices of finished homes and used buildings OPA drew the picture of a huge backlog back log of construction and a protracted period of supplies in the face of tremendous demand in all the nation has a need tor for over eight million new homes OPA figures fl altres tres as a result ot of the increase in families since 1940 servicemen marriages un doubling in crowded quarters the number of housing units now rated as substandard sub standard despite the need and the comparative prosperity of the people however a recent survey by the architectural tec tural forum orum indicated that 37 per cent of 0 the persons interviewed would could postpone building it if prices of finished homes should soar above 1000 over present prices another 12 per cent had not decided what course they would take of the total of 51 per cent that d determined etl to build regardless ol of a 1000 increase in costs most revealed that they would raise more money but a sizable percentage declared their intention to purchase a cheaper structure most sales would be under in analyzing the results ot of the sur vey OPA asserted that the indicated HERES WHAT WENT WRONG COSTS WENT VOLUME UP WENT DOWN unita INCREASE in construction COSTS 70 NOW CONST UNI 75 X bo so J arris I 1 UNITS av 0 15 1919 m 0 1921 determent deferment ot of building plans in the event of 0 a 1 1000 increase in costs would result in a loss ot of employment to more than workers thereby reducing demand for goods which they themselves could be counted upon to purchase now that private industry will play an important part in the fight to hold sales prices of finished and used homes to reasonable levels OPA will concentrate on the enforcement of dollars and cents ceilings for materials and services going into structures the flat prices will cover millwork lumber brick and tile plywood screens and windows roofing siding insulation heating e equipment quip ment hardware soil pipe plumbing p supplies etc in addition services controlled will include painting and paper hanging renewing of roots roofs plumbing installation stal etal lation and other work adapted to supervision increased supply needed in attacking the OPA proposal to slap controls over the prices of new structures the national association of home builders spearheading spear heading private industry declared that the only way to prevent a serious inflation was by increasing the supply to meet the tremendous demand although swamped with applications tor for new houses joseph E merriom Merr lom president of the association said the home builders cannot complete the large new developments m ants which are needed to ease the housing shortage until they have assurance from rom the government that manufacturers of badly needed materials and equipment will be aided in getting into full production immediately at the same game time frank W cortright exe executive gutive vice president of the association set out the organizations six bix point program tor for speeding construction and counte counteracting bacting inflationary tendencies 1 continue present price controls on building materials for only so long as Is 13 necessary As rapidly as an item Is found to be in ample supply it should be removed from price control I 1 2 inaugurate an active program by the civilian production agency successor to the war production board to control the inventory of 0 short items in order to eliminate the possibility of hoarding 3 start an active coord coordinated co ord lna t d campaign by government agencies to increase the supply of scarce building materials and if necessary grant price and wage increase to break bottlenecks 4 bu builders alders realtors and financing institutions will conduct a cooperative I 1 program to maintain non inflationary prices of homes 5 all segments of the home construction st industry will formulate a operative cooperative co program to rapidly increase the he supply of homes in all lasses classes I 1 6 the veterans administration he united states employment service and other governmental agencies I 1 should make immediate provision I 1 for the channeling of vets and experienced workers into the construction st field in the matter ot of pricing of used homes close supervision by and private financial institutions will be relied upon to keep costs within reasonable bounds in the absence of ceiling regulations few old buildings sold R realty activity has been lively since 1939 in the face of the housing cousin shortage but inability of pro property perth owners to find new quarters has served to decrease the supply of old buildings even so 84 per cent ol of the localities reporting to the national association of real estate boards revealed price increases averaging 12 per cent economists have calculated that normally prices of single family homes have approximated times the monthly rental of purchasers in july of this year however statistics s showed that in denver colo costs of buildings were 86 95 per cent ov over this ratio in cleveland ohio 65 per cent over in san francisco calif 58 59 per cent in chicago ill 47 per cent in atlanta ga and new york city 38 per cent and in dallas texas 34 per cent with property owners now able to move more freely and demand tor for housing exceeding new construction st at the start the turnover of used homes may become greater in the immediate future to check an inflationary spiral then finance institutions will have to be careful in appraising the real value of property to prevent burdensome mortgage payments or serious losses in future years having indicated indic cited its preference for private regulation ol of the real estate market the administration will provide ample opportunity for a real examination of its practicable processes in a period of real national emergency the experiment will be interesting to follow RISE construction COSTS WORLD WAR I 1 up lei 1913 1918 1920 ARMISTICE ol 01 |
