Van Haften Co nv can look back on a favorable year, on the onehand,
through its own efforts and, on the other, owing to the favorable stock
exchange climate.
For Gebam satisfactory results also can be reported.
Order books are well-filled and the results of constructions completed
can be called good, certainly in view of the intense competition.
Preparations for the construction of our new headquarters in Utrecht
are progressing according to plan. The first pile for the new office
building was driven in November 1980 and the outlook is that the new
facility can be in use early in 1983. This will certainly improve the
efficiency of our organization and the communication between the
various corporate divisions.
Within the framework of the 'Act on the supervision of the credit
systems' ('Wet toezicht kredietwezen') the 'Netherlands Association of
Mortgage Banks' ('Nederlandse Vereniging van Hypotheekbanken')
regularly conducted talks with De Nederlandsche Bank. Also a number
of practical aspects with respect to the operation of financing
institutions on the capital market were the subject of discussion here.
We trust too that in further talks adequate allowance will be made for
our historical position with respect to the placement of mortgage bank
bonds, in the sense that we will be able to continue using this extremely
important financing instrument to the fullest extent.
Previously we made reference to developments in the Dutch property
market. We wish to comment on this market as follows.
The unfavorable trend in the housing market in 1979 continued with
increased vigor in 1980. A further decrease in purchase/sale
transactions in the more expensive sector was visible, leading to a
stagnation in the through-flow, that is the process of housing turnover
and upgrading. Partly as a consequence of this, an oversupply of 17.500
(early 1980) newly constructed dwellings for owner occupancy arose,
representing a value of 3,5 billion.
Although sales and transfers to the rental sector reduced this number
during the course of 1980, the oversupply of 12.000 dwellings at the
beginning of 1981 was still considerable due to new production in 1980.
For the Dutch economy this means a loss of interest of 300 million on
an annual basis.
The expensive and rather narrowly focused government support
measures directed toward the public housing and (liberally subsidized)
'premium A' sectors have had a nominal effect on the reduction of the
stock.
Measures in support of the (less liberally subsidized) 'premium B' and
non-subsidized sectors were insufficient; these dwellings must still
bear a portion of land costs for the public sector and'premium A'sector
dwellings.
In the non-subsidized sector a disastrous development is in progress,
which is caused in part by the high mortgage interest rates, absence of
income growth and the continuing uncertainty concerning fiscal relief
possibilities. The fiscal relief uncertainty remains, despite the recently
introduced draft of a bill. It is not likely that the draft of the bill, which
leaves a number of questions unanswered, such as those concerning
the income-tax deductibility of interest on bridge loans, will be
considered before the next parliamentary elections.
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