October i, 1904
RECORD AND GUIDE
665
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"Entered at the Post Offire at A'ew Yor!;. N. T.. as seeond-class matter."
Vol. LXXIV. Octobei- 1, 1904. No. 1907.
THAT general finaiu'ial <'on<iitions are'much more favorable
to real estate than Ihey have been, is a matter of com¬
mon knowledge: b\it It is interesUng to observe how far these
•avorable conditions are influencing the amotmt of money act¬
ually put out on bond and mortgage. Money has been easy
throughout the entire summer; and the prices of real estate
on the Stock Exchange have been constantly improved by this
c'rctimstance; hut it is only very recently that the easier money
market has had any conspicuous effect upon the amount of
money loaned on rea! estate. During July and August the fig¬
ures for J904 did not vary materially from the flgures for the
corresponding period of 1903. Last year, for instance, there was.
during July and August, $10,782,000 loaned on real estate at flve
I,er cent., while during the same months of the current year the
amount had increased only to ?11,154,200. In July and August of
1903 515.784,900 were loaned at less than five per cent, against
cihout $14,300,000 for the corresponding period in 1904. In the
same way financial institutions loaned a little over $16,000,000 on
real estate in July and August of last year, and just about
$15,000,000 during July and August of this year. It was only in
six per cent, money that any conspicuous change took place.
In the two months of 1903 about $10,500,000 was placed at more
than flve per cent, interest, while in 1904 the money, loaned at
tbe same right rates amounted to $17,500,000. This increase of
$7,000,000 in the amount of money loaned at over five per cent,
interest, shows, of course, not that money was more valuable,
but that more of it was advanced to the builders of teaement
houses. When we come to the figures for the money loaned in
September, however, a very different showing is made. During
the first three weeks of this month in 1904, there was $3,141,000
loaned at five per cent. 57,868,000 at over flve per cent., and
$5,802,000 at lesa th?.n five per cent., while the •iorresponding
figures for 1903 were $2,215,000 at flve per cent., $2,533,000 at over
five per cent., and $1,599,000 at less than five per cent. Further-
,more, while according to the mortgages recorded, financial insti¬
tutions loaned $8,576,000 during the three weeks of 1904, they
loaned only $2,547,500 during the corresponding three weeks of
1903. Of course, we are now entering on a part ot the year when
conditions were extremely auverse in 1903, and this fact has
much to do with the favorable showing which the September
figures make. Nevertheless tnere can be no doubt that the
easier money market is really beginning to have effect upon real
estate transactions.
Railway Company will offer excellent opportunities for large
speculative transactions on the part of the big realty com¬
panies; and these companies will be in a better position to swing
sueh transactions than they have been Cor more than a year.
The improvement in (he stock market makes an important dif¬
ference to Slich corporations. The securities of the United
States Realty & Construction Co, have been sharing in the ad¬
vance, and the flve per cent, bonds of,that company are now
selling at a much better price than formerly. Considering the
assets and the earning power of the company, these bonds should
be worth every dollar of par, and when they reach that level, as
they will in case general conditions continue satisfactory, the
company will be in an excellent position to raise the fresh
supplies of capital which the proper conduct of its business
demands. Two huilding operations will result from two sales in
the Broadway wholesale district, one on the corner of Great
Jones st and one near Canal st, while another transaction of
considerable interest is the purchase of the northeast corner of
23d st and 9th av, 22x65, for $ti5,000—an extremely good price.
REAL ESTATE transactions continue to he very numerous;
but their character is not very varied. It is the tene¬
ment and apartment house which continues absolutely to dom¬
inate the situation. The trading in tenement houses is taking
on proportions similar to those of last year, and it looks as if
â– the professional operators would find opportunity to keep tip the
ipeculation in these properties which swelled the total number
ol transactions last winter to sueh large totals. The great dif¬
ference, however, between the two years consists in the much
greater demand at the present tirae for unimproved property.
This demand is at the present moment very conspicuous in Man-
â– hattan as well as in the Bronx; but the parts of the city which it
. chiefly afllects are those which are already improved to a very
ironsiderable extent. Thus the tipper end of Sth av has heen
much in evidence, as well as Amsterdam av, in the vicinity of
125th st. At least one large transaction was also scheduled for
Iliverside Drive. Undoubtedly a great deal of building wil! be
(lone on the West Side during the coming year, chiefiy in the
way of apartment-houses of a high class. Large transactions
cf any importance are still scarce; but. there is every promise
- that they will become more numerous. The prospective sale,
for instance, of several car-barn sites by the New York City
FROM the speculative standpoint the current stock market
is extraordinarily interesting. It affords unusual oppor¬
tunities for a shrewd operator to make money, and for a less
shrewd operator to ^lose it. The fluctuations are considerable,
and one stock after another comes to the front, and is generally
forced up to a higher level. During the.past week it has been
the Steel stocks which have received most attention. Until re¬
cently they have lagged behind the railroad stocks in the ad¬
vances they have made; but during the week the preferred has
sold for over 72, and the common has risen in sympathy. How
far the advance is justifled by the actual improvement of the
steel manufacturing husiness, and how far it is simply a bold
and clever use of the speculative situation, it is too early to say.
It seems certain that a genuine improveinent in the trade situa¬
tion has taken place, and that there is no danger of any diminu¬
tion of the dividends on the preferred stock in the near future.
On the other hand, considering the prices of steel products and
the increase of competition, the big steel corporation cannot ex¬
pect to earn a very large surplus over its dividend disburse¬
ments. That in case the company carries out a conservative
policy, and accumulates as large a cash reserve as it can, the
preferred stock will eventually be worth more than 72 is suffi¬
ciently plain; but the immediate situation is distinctly pre¬
carious. In this case, as in other cases, the evidences of manipu¬
lation are so plain that it is a good market to let alone, except
by people who are not very sure of their footing. Prices may be
forced further up, but, on the other hand, they may also sud¬
denly collapse. The interests which are behind the speculation
know what they are about, and will doubtless make money for
themselves. They are not making money, however, for many
other people, and an outsider will do well to wait until some¬
thing other than speculative conditions again assume control.
THB RECORD AND GUIDE suggested some years ago that
New York should not allow the third centennial anni¬
versary of the discovery of the Hudson River to pass wdthout
commemorating in some adequate way an event of such local im¬
portance. Since then, Mr. Eben Oicott has applied himself seri¬
ously to the task of arousing public sentiment in favor of an
appropriate and sufficient memorial; and the scheme which has'
met with most cordial acquiescence is that of building a Hudson
memorial bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek. This is an ex¬
cellent as well as a thrifty suggestion. The proposed bridge
would constitute an appropriate memorial, because of the ad¬
mirable view of the Hudson which it would command, and be¬
cause of the opportunity which the site would afford for a hand¬
some monumental structure. But the project has the additional
advantage of not calling for the spending of several million dol¬
lars on a monument which would be merely a memorial and,
perhaps, an adornment to the city, A bridge stretching from
Inwood Heights in Manhattan to Spuyten Duyvil Heights in the
Bronx, is as much, or more, of an economic necessity as the
Manhattan viaduct. It is necessary to free communication be¬
tween Washington Heights and the Bronx, and the necessity
will in a few years become pressing. The whole district sur¬
rounding the proposed bridge will, by the time of its proposed
dedication in 1909, be in large measure built over, so that it will
he indispensable to the convenience of many thousand people.
Furthermore, the proposed bridge will, of course, form a link in
Ihe handsomest and most beautiful driveway which the city will
possess, if not, indeed, one of the most beautiful driveways In
the world. It will connect with Boulevard Lafayette on the
south and with Spuyten Duyvil Parkway on the north, and will