Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS^ GUIDE.





Vol. XXn.





NEW YORK, SATÜRDAY, AUGUST 24,1878.





No. 545.





Published Weekly by

TER3IS.
ONE YEAR. in advance....810.00.
Communications should be addressed to

C.  %V.  SWEET,
Nos. ;i45 AXD 347 Broadway





SUMMER REVIEW.

The summer season is usually one of activitj- in
construction, but of utter barrenness in all the
other exhibitions of the real estate mai'ket. For
some reason, which can be more or less satisfactor¬
ily defined, the volume of building projection dur¬
ing the past season was considerably smaller than
that of the corresponding period of last year.
This failing off seems to be more in respect to pri¬
vate dwellings and the medium class of apart¬
ment houses, thau in respect to larger structure.s.
The projection of mainmoth edifices, such as
apartment hoteis, office buildings aud ware¬
houses has become quite a prominent feature of
the present season, and these constitute decidedly
the greater proportiou, as well iu number as i»
value, of the current business. The failing off
in the projection of private d%vellings may be at-
tributed in part to the signal and disastrous fail¬
ure of many building loau projects exploited dur¬
ing the past few yeai-s, the effect of which has
been to deter capitalists fi'om embarkiug money
in this class of venture. Owing to unequal com¬
petition with these building loan projectore, and
to the over-production of inferior houses which
has thus resulted, legitimate builders have found
peculiar difSculty in pursuing their calling. At
the same time, the intolerable bürden of taxation,
which shows no diminution or sign of diminish¬
ing, eontinues to operate as a dead weight upon
the best real estate interests of the city. It is idle
to expect that any large or new investments will
be made in unimproved real estate or iu the
raoderate grade of improved property, until this
bürden has been taken off or more fairly adjusted.
"VVith untaxabie government securities on the oue
band—even though paying but a sniall rate of in¬
terest, and heavily taxed real estate on the other
band, whose income is not always the most reli¬
able in times like these, the investing public will
probably continue to prefer the former,

Rents.—The initial step iu all real estate calcu¬
lations must ever be possible rental production,
and for that reason this branch of the market has
continued to monopolize the interest of the real
estate public to a larger extent than any other.
The hands on this dial are the surest indices of
the definite and true valuation which must ulti-
mately be placed upou all classes of property.
The stimulatiug and buoyant effect which the
Centennial exerted two yeare ago upon rental
valuations has ai; lexigth subsided into a direct
antithesis. During the present season, that is
süice May 1, a conditiou of inarked depression
and demoralization has beeü apparent iu nearly
all classes of rental propertry, owing doubtless in
a great measure to the absence of a large number
of our Citizens in attendance upon the Paris Expo¬
sition, and also .1». the^ ciuniüative -and conoeiK.





trat<;d misfortunes of those obliged to stay at
home. As compared with tho rents realized two
years ago, it would be .safe to say that an average
decline has been established of fully 50 per cent.,
and in some exceptional cases even a larger per¬
centage of depreciation has been determiued.
The result of last spring's business in renting was
not nt all satisfactory to hindlords, as the renting
rates close to the llrst of May became merely
nominal and unquotable. In a word, landlords
were obliged to accept the offers of solvent
tenants, and with ever so good a disposition to do
so, all were not able to dispose of their properties,
empty houses being more numerous this season
than ever before since the panic. This latest de¬
cline in demand and rents constitutes a pi>culiar
and crushing hanL«hip to landlords at large, since
they are culled ni>on to respond to quite as lurge a
measure of taxation as they were in the mo.st
prosperous times, while their ability to meet such
demands bas been inconceivably and irretriev-
ablj' lesseued.

The extraordinary misfortunes through which
the holders of rented property have been obliged
to pass during the present season, .should find a
.suitable and emphatic expression. The city
authorities, and the Legis!atureat Albniiy, should
be energetically impres-sed with the vital and
imperative necessity of reducing the taxation of
this city or of apportioning it upon other objects
so that real estate may experience snbstantial
and much needed relief. Without such reniedial
action, promptly and effeetually taken, the owner-
ship of even free and clear property will become
unprofitable and unuesirable, while the owner-
ship of mortgaged property will be deemed a
misfoi-tune of the first niagnitude.

The scale of rents that was established for the
present year, is without doubt the lowest that is
likely to be recorded during the pre-sent revulsion.
From this time forth, in tbe absence of any
great unforeseen calamity, proiierty ownei's can
make reasonably safe calculations with regard to
the income likely to be derived from property,
and real estate values may thus be expected to
crystallize into permanent forms.

The scarcity of the lowest priced houses eon¬
tinues to be keenly feit, and aniong the finnest
rents are those which ränge between eight and
tweive hundred dollare. The heaviest decline has
taken place iu rents above tweive hundred
dollars, aud particularly in those from fifteen
huudrsd to twenty-five hundred, showing how
acutely the best portion of our middle class popu¬
lation is now feeling the pressure of the times.

Sales.—During the past three months no very
extensive or noteworthy ti'ansactions have oc¬
eurred. The market in all its bearings, particu¬
larly in the department of sales, is settling down
into an extremely legitimate and conservative
conditiou, presenting as it does a phase of füllest
preparation for the revival of prosperity. Al¬
most to a man the prominent speculators of the last
great era iave been weeded out, many having
lately bastened to avail themselves of the benefit
of the bankrupt law whüo itmay be had. Great
anxiety has been awakened in the community by
the appearance of so many notices of bankruptcy
among real ^tate men. Well informed persons
neai jacarcely^be. told that the-majörityt>f these





failures, though recently reported, are merely
remnauts or long delayed effects of the great panic
of 1S7.3; and as .such their offlcial pnblieation was
certainly no news, hardly a .surprise. The sjjec-
ulative lots which %vere once held by these parties,
now bankrupt, liave gradually pa-ssefl into the
hands of .strong boldei-s, aud thus liecome released
from the entanglements of heavy mortgages.
These properties are held clear and free by their
present oivnei-s, and may in time be oßered for
thesußrages of the buying public. The mai-ket is
waiting patiently in anticipation of such events,
There can be no activity in building until lot
owners have made up the"ir minds to accept the
present Situation and seil their lands to solvent
and legitimate buildei's at such prices as they can
justly and reasonablj- afford to pay. The offer¬
ing of a few hundred lots at the present time, in
those seetions of the city whi^h are shortly to be
reached by rapid trausit, would no doubt find a
prompt response among good buiMers, and the ef¬
fect would be to speedily change the surface con¬
ditions of the real estate market.

As great a boou as rapid trausit promises to be,
it is fouud iu practice to be associated with cer¬
tain evil.s. As none of these are beyond the reach
of remedy, it is to be hoped that their correction
will be promptly atteuded to so that this great
and indispensable appliance of city life may give
no offense, aud stand unchallenged before the Com¬
munity. The principal complaint is in reference to
the rattle and noise of moving trains; but we im-
agine that this complaint has its origin in the fact
that this particular noise is novel, and has been sud¬
denly Sprung upon the community. The present
generation is probably fast forgetting the thun-
dering diu that the Broadway omnibuses made
when Broadway was paved with cobble stcnes,
and the thoroughfare was crowded with these
lumbering vehicles in coutiuuous procession, and
from curb to curb. Notwithstanding the deafen-
iug rucket thus made, Broadway then was the
Chief, if not the only seat of great retail busi¬
ness, and when the hubbub was at its highest,
Broadway continued to be the seat of residence
of wealthy and fashionable faniilies, while the
sti-eets intei'secting it were especially desired and
appropriated for first-class private residences. It
is unwarrautable to suppose, in the first place,
that the noise now made by the moving trains is
incuruble and in the next place after it has been
reduced to its minimum, that it will continue to
occasion the offense that now so disagreeablypre
vails about it. Probably in les than a year it will
be a general wonder that such an outcry of com¬
plaint was ever raised.

Still the Standard objeetions which have been
raised to rapid transit, in the daily press, have
their weight with impulsive and mercurial peo¬
ple. and a great many capitalists and persons ad-
dicted to real estate investment and speeulation
are adopting a line of remark extremely inimical
to real estate interests. Probably this is done in
anticipation of being able to secure .remarkable
bargains. The bürden of their refrain is that
private property is so ruthlessly invaded in this
counti-y that it has become dangerous to hold
real estate. While New York is in a nascent and
formative condition, it must be expected that.
some -private interests will suffer ag vicarious