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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 28, no. 717: December 10, 1881

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXVIII. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10. 1881. No. 717 Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association TERMS: OXE YEAR, in advance.....$6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 13T Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY'Busmess Manager. The conveyances show quite an increase this week in numbers and the amounts in¬ volved. There is also a large increase in the recorded mortgages. It is noticeable also that the annexed district, that is the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards, shows more activity in the way of transfers than for some time past. This is due in a groat^measure, doubtless, to the talk of new parks and other improvements on the other side of the Harlem. The annexed table is a kind of thermometer to tell the temperature of the real estate market from week to week. Week N.Y Am't. No. No. 23d Am't. No. end Clity in- Noai- &24th in¬ nom¬ mg. Cons. volved inal Wards. volved. inal. Sept. S S 14 75 809.071 23 12 24,450 21 111 1.381,992 36 16 45,928 6 28 89 1,355,333 21 19 90,593 4 Oct. 5 1.57 3,200,444 34 15 15,400 8 12 157 2,007,448 39 21 38.289 3 19 159 1,696,607 52 18 61,000 6 2> 140 1,720.325 41 21 213,871 6 Nov. 2 192 3.103.469 44 20 25,725 4 0 151 2,9.52.410 37 14 71,300 1 16 185 3,078.523 45 35 : 0,953 7 23 173 2,046,389 51 22 174,385 6 30 175 2,284,165 48 12 55,202 1 De2. 7 213 3,377,768 64 14 36,977 .0 Week Mort- Am't. No. Am't. No. to Am't end- gag¬ in¬ Five in¬ T.& in- hig. es. volved, per ct. volved. jisCos. volved. Sept. $ $ s 14 103 793,1.53 13 224,700 17 237.900 21 149 1,159,231 29 235,681 28 464.450 28 Oct. 5 117 1.070.874 29 409,100 27 562,500 169 1,.310,983 35 334,900 31 378.700 13 152 1,.53I,8.56 28 285.611 29 549,175 19 174 1,486.930 36 334,038 30 480,250 26 298 1,741,258 35 377,632 51 687,000 Nov. 2 241 1,866,805 53 466.500 41 375,000 9 204 2,331,630 42 787,250 25 Jtri.ic)! 16 196 5.413,0.50 36 595,200 39 J ,748,300 23 156 1,101,452 40 318.600 22 204,01 0 30 157 1,508,576 35 389,145 39 543,872 Dec. 7 233 2,331,983 53 609,358 56 922,450 New York presents every indication of prosperity. Its hotels are crowded, all its places of public amusement thronged, the wholesale houses were never so busy, and the retail demand never so active. The large additions to our permanent popula¬ tion is shown by the impossibility of accom¬ modating tiie children in oiu- public schools. We want more hotels, several new theatres, and at least half a dozen additional schools. The growth of business, both on the street cars and the elevated roads, tells the story of the increasing population, and the more ac¬ tive business of the metropolis. There is no surplus of houses in New York, all are need¬ ed for its present population, and there is no fear of overdoing the business of supply¬ ing additional houses for the accommoda¬ tion of those who wish to live on Manhattan Island, There is some talk of the Stewart prop¬ erty on Broadway and Chambers street being rented for a long term of years by the city, to accommodate city offices which are now scattered in various quarters because of the limitations of room in the building situ¬ ated in the City Hall Park. The Stewart building is a large one, and, if properly ar¬ ranged inside, would afford ample accom¬ modation for the various bureaus and city departments which now find shelter in oui of the way localities. It is understood that Judge Hilton wants to sell the property, but private bidders demur at the price he asks, which is said to be f 1,750,000. Should the building be rented by the city, there would soon be an active demand for bar rooms in the vicinity. MANUFACTURING ACTIVITY. The exchanges again show that there is a manufacturing boom under way. It is St. Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburg, Lowell, Colum¬ bus, and other iron and cotton factory cen¬ tres, which show the great advance. Trad¬ ing points like New York, New Orleans, Milwaukee and Memphis, show a falling off. This city, however, advantages somewhat by the manufacturing activity. Thousands of small industries have; their headquarters in or near the metropolis, and tliere is no reason why New York might not become, in time, a greater manufacturing centre than Cleveland or Pittsburg. All our suburbs are open to the establishment of factories, and our rail and water communication is better and cheaper than that of any other large city in the world. Cheap land is needed, of course, to erect dwellings foi working people at low cost. This can be secured in the an¬ nexed district on or near tidewater, and within easy reach of railroads already built or i^rojected. It is not likely that New York will ever again be a point at which wooden ships can be economically constructed. But why may not iron and steel vessels be made heie? We have the most direct commimication to the greatest coal and iron beds in the world. It is au axiom that, wherever coal and iron can be laid down the cheapest, that point of necessity must become a great manufactur¬ ing centre. New York cannot compete with Pittsburg or Cleveland in bulky iron and steel structures intended for the West, but in a little while, if not now, it will be found that in, or near this city, is the cheap¬ est place in which to build iron or steel steam vessels. Mere commerce is not so potent an agent in increasing population, as is the building of great factories. Birmingham and Manchester will alw.-iys hold their own with Liverpool. All the old roads as well as the new ones from the coal and iron region are making New York their headquarters. When the bridge over the Hudson at Peek- skill is built, the Pennsylvania, the Erie, the Delaware & Lackawanna, will bring coal and iron as cheaply to this city as it is now taken to Philadelphia. The newspapers ought to advertise New York as the best place in which to start new manufactories. THE STOCK MARKET. The stock market looks strong. It seems very difficult to get prices down, though quite a number of things has been helping the bears, especially tight money. There are those who say there are sevei'al surprises for the street, one being the cutting of a melon in Northwest, by which the common and preferred stocks would advantage large¬ ly. There is no doubt but what this com¬ pany is in excellent condition. If the In¬ dian Territory should be opened, as is not unlikely from President Arthur's message, the M., K. & T., the San Francisco and the Atcheson & Santa Fe would all go booming. Denver & Rio Grande is also believed to be a purchase, for although the road is novsr being built through unproductive territoiT-, yet the time is coming when two jiowerful corporations will be competing for it, as it will give either of them a potentially valua¬ ble Western connection. The Chicago, Bur¬ lington & Quincy will soon reach Denver. The Atchison & Santa Fe joins the Denver & Rio Grande at Puebla, and these two great Boston corporations will be competitors for the Denver & Rio Grande. This stock will have a great many ups aud downs, but in¬ siders think it a purchase now. The state¬ ments made in connection with the New York & New England road, which is now a Gould property, show that our elevated sys¬ tem is destined to become a part of the gen¬ eral railway system of the country. The Gould system of roads will have connections north, west, east and south entirely inde¬ pendent of the Vanderbilt system, with the great advantage of reaching every part of New York island for the collection and dis¬ tribution of passengers and freight. Decem¬ ber is an uncertain month, however, to speculate in stocks. There are apt to be severe pinches in money previous to the first of January. Congress, too, this winter will be discussing a number of disquieting ques¬ tions, as for instance lhe tariff, internal rev¬ enues, the reorganization of the banking system, a 3 per cent, refunding bill and the silver question. But, then, the country is prosi)erous and the business of the railroads very large. The long article in the He aid about real estate this week is somewhat misleading. It conveys the imx,)ression that a great many new building i)lans are being filed by capi¬ talists and others, which is not exactly true of the immediate present. The totals foi the past year figure up iargt-ly, but there is a dearth of new plans just at present, due to the season as well as to the unpleasant fact that the new houses built on speculation did not sell as readily as it was expected they would do. There is a large number of surplus houses still on hand; they will be sold sometime, as they cannot be duplicated at the prices asked for them. But the