Beginning of the End

Will the nation's house hunters find houses this year? If they do not, said ARCHITECTURAL FORUM in its January issue, it will not be for lack of materials or industry's willingness to put them together. In its yearly building forecast, the first since the war, the FORUM reported that only further rises in costs can prevent an "incredible" year of building.

The total amount spent on new buildings and houses, the survey predicted, will reach a whopping $20.2 billion, some 26% more than last year's record high. Material shortages are easing so fast that "there may even be an oversupply of some materials and a switch of emphasis from production to selling." Some $13 billion will be spent on new construction, 40% of it on homes and apartments. Altogether, barring work stoppages and a rise in costs to prohibitive levels, about 1,200,000 dwelling units will get under way this year. This should mean "the beginning of the end of the housing crisis."

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