Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1962-1963 — Page 13

18. Table II shows the number of instruments registered in each year since 1953-54; Table III, the numbers of instruments by categories in each year since 1958-59; and Table IV, the total considerations in the principal categories for each year since 1953-54.

19. A record number of 28,997 instruments were registered in 1962-63. As will be seen from Table II, the number of instruments registered annually has risen every year during the past decade and has in fact nearly quadrupled in that period. As compared with last year the 1962-63 figures show a marked drop in the number of assignments from 13,160 to 10,553. This drop was almost entirely due to there being 2,444 fewer assignments of undivided shares in land. The principal reanson for this was no doubt that both the number of sub-divided buildings completed and the number of units therein dropped very considerably as compared with 1961-62, the former being down by nearly 100 to 260 and the latter down by about one-third. Another contributing factor was the growing practice of allowing flats to be paid for in instalments with the assignments postponed until payment of the final instalment. On the other hand the number of agreements for sale and purchase showed a striking increase from 2,161 to 4,636, which was mainly attributable to the fact that 1962-63 was the first full year in which, in pursuance of Government's announcement of 20th December 1961, the sale of flats in uncompleted multi-storey buildings held under Conditions of Sale was permitted. Not surprisingly in view of the drop in the number of assignments the total of the considera- tions in assignments also dropped as compared with 1961-62, being $39,000,000 down at $1,066,274,000, of which $401,688,000 related to assignments of undivided shares. Dividing this last total by 8,690, the number of assignments of undivided shares, one gets an average con- sideration of $46,000 for transactions of this type. This compares with $36,000 in the previous year, but one cannot say that this represents an increase in the average price per unit because many of the assignments in both years were of two or more units.

20. There were substantial increases both in the number of mortgages and in the total considerations therein, 5,953 mortgages totalling $825,329,000 being registered as compared with 5,206 totalling $649,349,000 in 1961-62. The 1962-63 figures included 151 building mortgages for a total of $106,266,000, $34,000,000 up on 1961-62. Re- assignments also increased from 3,650 with considerations totalling $325,613,000 to 3,891 with considerations totalling $397,248,000.

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