Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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sjr, The Real Estate Record. There has been a real and very large addition to our currency by the retention of our bullion usu- aliy <"xporto->tt>iili.-\l ns paper issues in advancing prices. A c-herk. hin^ ever, to tho importation of gold will ctiiil all the markets and this will certainly come bifore spring. The production of gold and silver or it-; iniptirt.ation is self-limiting. Not so paper isMit's, wiiicli are limitle.s.s. Hence the present ad- var.c' in j>rices is liable to "set-backs." .Ms ill tl-.e building trade would be well to msike h.x-sU' slnviy; not to be too confident, and not to \ ov.T produce. Supplj- the market, but don't be f..ij:5d in the Spring with too large stocks on build. THE (JIST OF THE MARKET. I>uriug lhe week closing to-day there has been c..i,sider.nhle activity in the oflices that centre in and around the Real Estate Exchange. When, lii dt >iio it \>e considered s\-nonymous with the '•h'om" that has in some waj- or other nestled ill the br.iiiis of manj- busines.s men recently. Ti:-,^ro is activitj- in the real osteite market, owing to !ht> desire of manj- solid capitalists to invest at ruliii.:; i>rices, but not for the purposes of sijecula- t:->n. Here and there au exception may be met with, but, asa rule, it will be found that investors ^vh<> now come to the front with their hard cash pi.-icf their nionej" in the soil, after having struck Verj- bard, bargains. Confidence, it is true, is l>ii!!g rapidlj- restored, but it should not be all at once forgotten that it needed all of this restora¬ tion to recover from the terrific shock it experi- enceti during the past few years, in order once more to invite the surplus or idle capital of cor- lX)nitions and individuals to the real property of our citj- and suburbs. The lii.storj- of the market, as detailed in another c tlumn, fullj- illustrateslthe views here expressed. Tiiere have been public and private sales of proj erty during the past few daj-s, all of signifi- cuice for the quiet observer of the progress of c%ojits in our midst. Notable among these sales is 5 tie purchase of the four lots on the corner of Kiftv-fourth street aud Fifth avenue by Mr. Powers, for $2t!(VW0 cash, and yet if the same amount of monej- were offered to-day for the two lots on the block below, viz., on the corner of Fifty-third street, there would be no sale. The Slevens, iu fact, a.sk .i!2I(),000 for these two lots, aiid thej- have been held at that price ever since the la.st .s.ale on the avenue was made to Mr. Van¬ derbiit. It might be said that in the face of the sale to Mr. Powers the price at which these lots are licid is exorbitant and j-et when it is remem- liercd that there are only twelve vacant lots for srde on the avenue, below Fifty-ninth street, there wiil Iw found anj'" mmiber of jjersons ready to pr«x-laim that the Stevens price is not too far out of j-auge. Here and there, of course,iwhile the market is rapiiily becoming convalescent, during the restor¬ ation of confidence above alluded to, there are surpnVes to lie met with as well on a seller's side, who makes an exceptional profit, as on the part of n pui-cha^er who strikes a verj- favorable bargain. Though these exceptional cases should bo re¬ garded as the result of extraordinary individual causes, their effect, nevertheless, tends to show nn activity which the real estate market has not known for some time back. We allude particu¬ larly to the sale of two Fifth avenue lots, between Sixty-fifth and Sixtj--sixth streets, bj' George P.liss. Esq., for $70,000—lots which he purchased in Janujin- last for §43,000 from Mr, E. W. Stoughton, the American Minister at the Court "f St Petersburgh. and purchased them, too. it is said, by cable. This, as well as the Powers purchase, must bexegarded among the sensational events of the week. That the market is, how¬ ever, in the fullest meaning of the word strong, considering the ordeal it bas passed through, is not denied, even by the shrewdest of investors aud brokers. As a matter of curiosity, a representa¬ tive of The Real Estate Record requested, during the present week, several gentlemen to give their views on the market for the purpose of publication in these columns, and thej-are herebj'' furnished for general information without being either added to or changed in the least. Mr. R. C. Ferguson (speaking after the Phillips sale of the King estate), said : " The four Eighth avenue lots sold quite cheap. One of the shrewdest men in the market, Mr. James Rufus Smith, offered $.=),i)0!) for them, but thej' were knocked down to Lespinasse & Friedman for $6,000. The four lotson the Seventh avenue,bought by Van Rensselaer Cruger, were reason.tble, but not so cheap as the Eighth avenue lots." Refer¬ ring to the Powers purchase, Mr. Ferguson said : " His lots are very cheap. He ought to have paid more money for the corner lot. The people of New York have not even begun to appreciate the value of our Park surroundings. Wherever I turn, however, I find evidences of higher prices for real estate, and according to mj- opinion the market will be stronger yet before the winter is over. There are, for instance, in One Hun¬ dred and Sixteenth street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, six lots, and one on One Hundred and Seventeenth street, for %vhich I have offered $20,000. The holder wanted §23,000 for tbem, and I am satisfied he will get it before the winter is over." A well-knovra resident of Brooklyn, who has con¬ siderable money invested in New York real estate, said, after the Kino: sale: "Everybody" is satisfied with the result of this sale, and I consider that the bidding was quite spirited. I have lots right in the rear of the lots sold to-day on One Hundred and Nineteenth street, west of Eighth avenue. I have been offering them all along for $2,000 a piece, but since this sale I have raised the price on them to 112,200. Richard V. Harnett, taking a general view of the market, said, yesterdaj', " the market is fair; parties who are purchasing real estate now are paj-ing all cash. The rule is to buy for invest¬ ment, not for speculation. The rapid increase in the prices of building material will, however, have a great tendency to create a scarcity of houses which may result in a slight advance in rents next Spring. There is no necessity for ' booming' this market, as parties that have been carrying vacant lots for a number of years are just now quite disposed to meet the views of buyers." Cyrtis Clark, a gentleman who maj- be re¬ garded as an expert in real estate, gave his opin¬ ions in the following terms: " This market has improved during the year, with every indication of further improvement, owing to the general re¬ vival of prosperity on the one side and the suc¬ cessful working of rapid transit on the other. Wall street just now is the centre of attraction, and there appears to be a disposition to Seal in things of a fictitious nature, but before long this tendency will be reversed, people will be found dealing more generally in matters of real value." THE FUTURE OF THB STOCK MARKET. The intimate relation between the financial condition of the coimtry, and the demand for real estate must be our excuse for discussing other questions than those affecting the price of land. It is well known that if money is made in the stock market and general trade, that there fol¬ lows, as a matt-er of course, a revival o£ interest in realtj'. If there are losses in the general busi¬ ness of the country, real estate suffers. Everj'one realizes that the " boom " in the stock market will be followed by an advance of values in the real estate market. Everything which adds to the prosperity of the city of New York, will, in time, give a value lo our houses and lands in and near the city. Stock values continue to advance. Persons 'who deal in securities are much richer to-day than they v^ere last week, or the week be¬ fore last, aud there is enough room for a still further advance. All six per cent, stocks and bonds will be worth par; seven per cents will go from 112 to 116; eight per cents 12.5 to 13.5 and so on. Hence, we do not believe that prices, as yet, are high. The market will be " bull" the rest of this J'ear, but as prices approach the figures wc have mentioned, it is evident that operators will become more and more careful, and there will be less done in stocks. Then the process of absorp¬ tion has commenced. It is believed that there are fewer shares of good stocks in Wall street to¬ day than tfaere w-as six months or a j-ear since. That is to saj', the investing public after having absorbed the government bonds, has put its monej' into stocks and bonds reasonablj- certain of six and seven per cent., and has taken them out of the "stieet." This absorption of good se¬ curities has led to the demand for second and third-class stocks and bonds which has been so marked a feature of the street for the past few weeks. It wiil be remembered that, east ofthe Mississippi, no new roads are being coiistrucied. West of the Missouri, it is understood, that there are twelve thousand miles of railroads called for, but not more than five thousand can bo built within a year, owing to the lack of railroad steel and iron. It follows that as the process of ab¬ sorption goes on there will be fewer [securities to deal in upon the Stock Exchange. Prices will be higher, and the market will be scmewhat duller, because there is a figure that even the most reck¬ less operators will not dare to pass. But we will reach those figures sometime this winter. What next ? Whj' this speculative fever will overflow, naj', is overflowing, into mining shares and miscellaneous securities, such as gas and in¬ surance stocks, bank stocks, express stocks and real estate, but realty will como last of all. In the meantime we are about to have an open Board of Brokers, the sessions of which will extend from nine o'clock until four in the afternoon, and deal¬ ings will be permitted in ten and twenty shares of stock. We think the regular Stock Board has been unwise in not giving facilities for dealing in all the minor securities, similar to the Englisb and French Stock Exchanges. The mistake has been in not dividing the interest in the Stock Exchange and recognizing the fact of specialties in certain lines of securities. Instead of selling insurance stock, bank stock, gas stocks, and the like, at auc¬ tion sale, these together with mining securities ought to be dealt in at the regular Board. But the Exchange itself should be sub-divided. Cer¬ tain brokers would naturally be experts in mining securities ; others in insurance, and others again in gas stocks. Manufacturing stocks would have their call and so ou with all the entire list of in¬ corporated companies. They should all be repre¬ sented on the regular Stock Exchange and all get the attention due their merit. But the great op¬ erators of the street, dealing, as they have done, entirely in railway securities, have so limited the action of the Stock Board that it has forced the organization of a Mining Board, and now an open Board of Brokers, both competitors, when they might form a part of the parent Board. The regular stock operator discourages invest¬ ments in anything else than railw^ays, because it confuses his business. The broker can borrow on New York Central, Rock Island or.the coal stocks, but he is put out when an order comes in from a