Houses Are Scarce As Real Estate

Prices Soar In The Solomons

By Denis Fisk

From trying to sell his own home last year during a depressed business period, the Solomon Islands’ only non-government surveyor, lan Robins, has launched himself into a new busi ness—real estate.

His hill-side house was advertised in Australian newspapers in lyrical terms, but Robins decided to stay on in Honiara after all, and in Novem ber announced by leaflet the establish ment of the first real estate business in the country, Triangle Realty.

Business appears to be picking up for Triangle, which has booked a regular comer of the new weekly newspaper The Solomons News Drum to advertise houses and flats for sale or rent.

It’s interesting to compare rents for housing with other Pacific countries. In Australian dollars (still the local currency until the adoption of a Solomon Islands currency prob ably next year), a concrete brick two bedroomed residence on nearly one acre and less than five minutes walk from the main shopping area is sell ing for $20,000 or you can rent for $l6O a month unfurnished, $2OO furnished.

In a better spot—“glorious 350 deg view on top of the highest hill in Honiara”—a Housing Authority de sign 1008 (three bedrooms) built of timber and fibro-cement sheeting sells for the same price, or can be rented furnished for $2BO a month . . . that’s $64 a week!

The rent return on this latter house of 17 per cent on current value would delight most owners of properties-for rent anywhere.

Accommodation for rent continues to be hard to find in Honiara for locals or expatriates at anything like a reasonable rental due to the short age of both low-cost and high-cost houses.

The government has a waiting list of literally scores of married and single public servants who have no chance of getting government accom modation.

Much of it, anyway, appears rather primitive, even beside the simplest of the new Housing Authority buildings which have been developed to try to fit the incomes of employees right

down to labourer level, the ideal of any such authority.

The concrete block housing which succeeded earlier leaf and timber buildings has attracted severer criticism from people with an eye to retaining the local flavour even in the towns. It has almost without ex ception been more difficult in the low-cost range to keep them looking like dignified living quarters, when compared with the other places even when they are in a similar rundown state.

It has become government policy to point local people needing housing in the direction of the Housing Authority which will build new houses, or resell those already being bought, on very elastic finance ar rangements.

The Authority’s approach has been pragmatic in realising that it is prob ably impossible to build a permanent house of any size in permanent materials (timber floor and frame, fibro-cement walls, insulated corru

gated iron roof) to match the lowest incomes. in Honiara these can be $29 a month but are more usually in the $3O to $35 bracket, with accommo dation sometimes provided. This can be supportable if local tastes have not been spoiled by imported foods such as Australian sugar at 45 cents a pound.

The Authority offers some small blocks of land on which it connects the sewer and water to a fibreglass or concrete service unit of toilet, shower and washtub moulded in one piece in the ground.

For less than $2OO this provides the nucleus of a build-your-own house with whatever materials you decide

upon, including traditional lightweight

structures of stocks and leaf, and after some initial inertia, people have begun to move on to these blocks.

Part of the inertia was due to the scheme taking a while to seep through to people. But there was also some pride to swallow in living in the town

environment in bush housing, and some shaking off of the father provides-all expectations from gov ernment by public servants. They can hardly be blamed, however, for being slow to adopt this now-necessary in dependence from a government which has had to become increasingly cost conscious as it moves closer to meet ing all recurrent expenditure.

Despite the ultra-low income hous ing gap, the Authority last year did get the price of a permanent materials house and land down to $l,OO0 —a staggering feat, when it is realised that this included the service unit mentioned above.

Oil search off

New Caledonia

Three French oil companies are planning joint exploration of the sea bed and continental shelf off New Caledonia, where territorial waters extend to a limit of 12 miles off shore. The three exploration com panies are ELF, SNPA (Aquitaine) and Total.

Deep-sea research into possible oil deposits was undertaken in 1972 by Gulf Oil and Mobil as well as by official French marine survey vessels working through the scientific bodies ORSTOM in Noumea, CNEXO in Tahiti and the French Petroleum Institute (IFP). Noumea Mines De partment officials believe the structure of the Caledonian seabed suggests the possible presence of petroleum de posits. However, research is still very much at a preliminary stage.

Meanwhile, in the nickel field, recent Paris talks with North Ameri can mining interests have raised little hope for any early realisation of promised expansion in the north and south of the island. As foreshadowed by Overseas Territories Minister Olivier Stirn, during his January visit to Noumea, he and Industry Minister Michel d’Ornano met in February with the presidents of Canadian INCO and the US Amax, respectively.

The Noumea press described the results of the first round as “empty bluff”, since there was no new de velopment revealed in the southern stalemate after the talks with INCO’s Edward Grubb.

As far as the north of the island is concerned, since the shelving of the Patino-COFREMMI-SOMMENI project, Amax president lan Mac- Gregor was quoted as saying his group is prepared to consider working in the area with French partners.

These could be either part of the Patino effort or other French in terests, with some indication of the possibilities to be indicated by AMAX by June.