Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXYI.





NEW YOBK, SATUBDAT, OCTOBEB 9, 1880.





No. 656





Published Weekly by

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TERMS.
ONE YEAR, in advance....SIO.OO.
Communications should be addressed to

C.  W.  SWEET,

No. 137 Broadway





NOTES,  POINTS AND FORECASTS.

Every body believes in a •'boom," and in
the highest figures of tlie year for securities
some time before February 1st, 1881.

The exchanges during September show
that there has been a falling off in business
compared to the same month last year. This
is accounted for by the extraordinary activ¬
ity in the stock market last year. Judged
by the exchanges, the volume of business is
reduced nearly $600,000,000.

The money market continues easy: and
there is no prospect of an advance until
stock sijeculation becomes more active.

Imports of merchandise show a lieavy fall¬
ing off—not one-half as much as during the
early weeks of September—exports contimtc
large ; so no present stoppage of specie im¬
ports is to be feared.

Grain improves in price as the deficiency
abroad becomes more and more marked.

Everybody is waiting for the October elec¬
tions. Next Wednesday will see an active
stock market, as prices will either go up or
d own in a very marked way.

'•Chippers" and small brokers have liad the
market all to themselves during the past
week. Big operators and the investing pub¬
lic are waiting.

Dealings in Western Union are very lim¬
ited, awaiting the result of the elections.
Gen. Grant's name has been suggested for
President. He ought to be secured for the
chief executive of the World's Fair.

From the contradictory statements put
forth by the managers of the elevated roads,
the outside j)ublic is led to believe these cor¬
porations are controlled by queer book-keep¬
ers. Jose F. Navarro and Cyrus W. Field
are not fools.

Things look better in the real estate mar¬
ket. Weak holders were shaken out some
time ago, and realty in and near New York
is strongly held ; but the uncertainty attend¬
ing the Presidential election checks active
operations.

The specie reserve of the country is grad¬
ually finding its way into general circula¬
tion, silver certificates and silver dollars
being in greater demand all the time.





More stores on Fifth avenue above Twenty-
sixth [street. Several p'rivate houses have
been converted into show-rooms for the sale
of goods;;;and, more ominous than anything





that has yet occurred, a milliner has hnng
out a sign opposite the A. T. Stewart man¬
sion, and just above Stewart's old house.
We have said, more than once, in these
columns,that Fifth avenue,'^between Twenty-
sixth and Thirty-fourth streets, was pretty
sure to become, a business thoroughfare.
Ladies who shop in carriages do not like
to venture below Twenty-third street. That
part of Broadway which runs along Madison
avenue is fast becoming a densely thronged
th .)roughfare. As the retail business and
population of the city grows, the crush op¬
posite the Fifth Avenue Hotel will contin¬
ually increase. The omnibus lines and street
cars are continually becoming more numer¬
ous at that spot; and persons who drive
their own teams prefer not to run the risk
of collision or accident. Hence it follows
that the " carriage " trade, so to speak, will
seek some quiet avenue where costly, dainty
and tasteful goods are made specialties. The
fate of Fiftli avenue below Twenty-third
street,, and as far down as Washington
square, is more difficult to forecast. It will
never be a fashionable thoroughfare for
business purposes; and when the clubs move
up-town, as they will do in the next five
years, this part of the famous avenue will
be given over to boarding houses, flats and
eccentric businesses. But Fifth avenue
above Twenty-sixth street is destined to be¬
come more and more a business thorough¬
fare.





THE SITUATION OF THE REAL ES¬
TATE MARKET.

It is [about a year since the Real Estate
market recovered from the depression that
set iu shoi'tly after 18'' 3, and while our week¬
ly reviews keep our readers abreast of all
that is transpiring in matters affecting real¬
ty, it will certainly not be considered out of
place, at this season of the year, to take a
retrospective view of the changes that have
occurred, in order that the actual situation
can be defined with the more accuracy.

While to-day there is an absence of specu¬
lative feeliug in the market, owners of prop¬
erty in tlie City of New York and suburbs
certainly have no reason to find fault with
this situation. On the contrary, taking an
imi^artial view of the various changes that
have been noted from week to week, they
have every reason to be satisfied. More than
this,' the solidity of investments and the very
als ince of speculation, while they deprive the
market for the time being of an inflated ac¬
tivity, nevertheless demonstrate the healthy
condition of tlie general business of our city.
Our market never leads, neither does it i^re-
dict; it follows other enterprises, whether
private or public, and reflects in its transac¬
tions the solidity of these enterprises.    It is '





not by any means a barometer as the stock
market attempts to be occasionally, but it is
a savings bank, or rather a safe deposit com¬
pany, wherein are gathered tbe fniits and
profits of the general trade and business of
the countiy. As such it naturally is the very
last of all markets where this prosperity is
felt. Neither is it swayed by temporary re¬
verses in this or that line of trade, or affected
in the least by trivial causes that can so eas¬
ily upset the stock market, for instance. It
stands patiently awaiting the result of var¬
ious enterprises, well knowing that the spare
capital gathered tlierefrom must come within
its channels. It just now reflects, in the very
best manner, the changes that have come
over the majority of business men who, now-
a-days, buy no more than they require for the
legitimate demands of their trade. There is
an absence of overtrading in the merchan¬
dise markets, the same as there is an absence
of speculation in the real estate market.

And yet, as we have said before, owners of
real estate have manifold reasons to be satis¬
fied, not only with the actual situation of
the market, but with its immediate future.
Beginning at the lower end of the island, we
find a section that has been lying dormant
for years, suddenly rise in demand and value,
owing to the enormous increase of the num¬
ber of banking and shipping offices, and tlie
definite character fixed for that section by
the termini of ^the elevated roads. Further
up the dry-goods district, which always com¬
mands the highest rents, is slowly creeping
up even as far as Houston and Bleecker
streets. Special causes, such as the increase
of manufacturing and the establishment of
the Gansevoort market, have infused activ¬
ity into the real estate of the Eighth and
Ninth Wards, on the West Side. Fourteenth
street, Union square and Twenty-third street
are being crowded by the retail establish¬
ments of heavy firms, and everywhere con¬
cerns like Arnold, Constable & Co., A. T.
Stewart & Co., McCreeiy and the like, con¬
tinue to build more palatial warehouses,
either for their own accommodation or for
investment. Sixth avenue, instead of hav¬
ing been injured by the elevated roads, is
growing in power and prosperity almost by
the month, while leadhig cross streets hard¬
ly supj)ly sufficient accommodation to con¬
vey the enormous travel that is constantly
crowding from the East to the West Side of
our city, and vice vei'sa.

In the residence part, the Lenox Hill dis¬
trict is outrivalling Murray Hill in palatial
mansions, and there is constant demand for
more and more housee in that choice centre,
and notably more so to the eastward. Up
along Y''orkville and Harlem building opera¬
tions continue with an unprecedented activ¬
ity, and rapid transit trains as well as horse