15
Wednesday, March 27, 1974
DOMESTIC RENTS LIKELY TO DROF
Over 10,000 Domestic Units Vacant
Domestic rents are likely to go down further over the year, the
Financial Secretary, the Hon. Philip Haddon-Cave, forecast today.
Reviewing the property market, he said that towards the end of
last year there were clear indications of a downward trend in rents for
new domestic premises, particularly in the case of the more expensive
type of accommodation.
"Sale prices, too, are reportedly down by as much as 15 to 20
per cent over the year," he added.
The Financial Secretary attributed the decline in rents to
improved supply and the tighter money situation. However, supply of
domestic accommodation in 1973 fell below expectation.
Vacancies in the private sector in urban areas, he went on, amounted
to just over 10,000 units the highest since 1968 having steadily risen
from a low of 2,400 at the end of 1969 to 7,000 at the end of 1972.
He pointed out, however, that the measures taken to impose full
rates on vacant domestic premises from January 1 this year "should now
be beginning to bite," and he was fairly hopeful that "we shall see some
further downward movement in domestic rents over the year."
In the case of retail trading premises, he went on, the position
was similar for, although rents had continued on an upward course over 1973, vacancies at the beginning of this year accounted for some 1.28 million square
feet of space - that is a 63 per cent increase over the year - and this figure
was very nearly equal to the total space completed during the year.
Most of