With the town of Norwood chalking up another 2 1/2 million dollar year in home-building during 1961, the five-town area showed a total of $7,792,460 compared with $8,270,510 a year ago.
The figures are as follows:
Additions, alterations, and repairs to all types of existing structures, both residential and commercial declined in every town with an area total of $995,405 ($2,121,602, 1960).
Total deeds and mortgages for the comparable periods follows:
Area as a whole in 1961 had 3242 (3494 in 1960).
Suburban Living Still Trend
The University of Michigan in a year-end survey, just announced, has found that consumers have developed two distinct buying trends in recent years. As might be expected, the first trend is that homeowners still continue to look toward the country for their new dwelling and secondly, the family owns more than one home in the course of a lifetime.
In connection with the second trend, the Michigan survey found that age, rather than income is the biggest factor in the family’s moving trend. Over 40 percent of younger families in the survey expected to move within five years, while older groups expected the figure to be closer to 14 years. The survey concluded that “Nowadays, the prevalent pattern is to change housing repeatedly over the life cycle, and in this way adjust one’s living quarters to current needs and preferences.”