ENG-1970 — Page 150

LAND AND HOUSING

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increased by 54 to 81. Orders requiring redevelopment of the sites of demolished buildings totalled 72 (against 77). The number of searches, which, as a search is normally made prior to every land transaction, provides a good index to the state of the property market, rose by 32.4 per cent from 75,446 to 99,891. Compared with 1969 the grand total of considerations recorded in all instruments registered rose by $1,939,000,000, or 61.8 per cent, to $5,078,000,000.

The volume of work in several other sections of the Land Office was influenced by the prevailing market conditions. During the year, 201 conditions of sale, grant, exchange, etc were registered as compared with 173 in 1969. Consents granted to forward sales of flats in those cases where the conditions under which the land is held give the necessary power of control increased by 63 to 197. The number of modifications and deeds of variation of lease con- dition-often a prelude to multi-storey development-decreased by three to 35. Three hundred and fifty four Crown leases were issued as compared with 512 in 1969.

At the end of the year the Land Office card index of property owners contained the names of 188,807 people (an increase of 16,860 over the previous year), some owning several properties, but most being merely owners or part owners of small individual flats.

二

PRIVATE BUILDING

The renewed interest in private building development of the two previous years continued unabated in 1970, reaching almost optimum conditions for the building industry in some sectors. The total cost of new buildings as reported by architects to the Building Authority upon completion of their projects was $516,827,198.08, an increase of 33.7 per cent over 1969, while 978 new building schemes were processed and approved, compared to 730 for the previous year. Balcony fees paid, relating mostly to domestic buildings of the tenement type, amounted to $1,549,754.28.

While all categories of building are affected by the current property market expansion, interest in hotels and high priced residential accommodation was particularly noticeable. No less than 13 large and medium sized hotels were under construction by the end of the year, with over a dozen further schemes submitted

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