Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 64, no. 1657: December 16, 1899

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iDecember i6, 1899. RECORD ANT> GUTDE. 925 ESTABUSHED-^ flJUVCH Sm^ 1868. .Dd6t£D to f^LESTAJI.BuiLDIîfe A,RP^frreCTURE,HoUSEl(OLDDEGCŒÏHWrl, Bi;SI(/ESS AltoTHEBlES Of Ge^EI^V iKTERfST. fl'RIOE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. PuMisAcd everj/ Balurday. TEL.EPKOKB, OORTI^AMST 1370. CcmmunicatlouB should b« addressed to C. W. SWBET, 14-16 Veaey Street J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. " EnteT'Bd at tht Poat-OffiBe at Xew Tork, H^. S., as seamO-etass wiatten" Vol. LiXIV. DECEMBER 16, 1899. No. 1657 AFTEÎR the immense liquidation seen in the stock market this week a decided rally would be the natural thing to .expect. In that respect, however, the market is somewhat dis¬ appointing. The return morement halts in a way that suggests doubt in most minds of the immédiate future, The discloaure of trouble In Boston, and the probability of large gold exports, .doubtless excite caution if not timidity and preclude confident pré¬ dictions regarding prices for the next week or so. Some rather jfrantic endeavors are belng made to show that the relief of the London market by exports of gold would react favorably upon this. Those whose memories are good on the previous effects of ^old exports in times of uncertainty fail to be convinced. Until récent yeai's, during which our gold supplies were very large -while trade at the same time was moderate, the departure of gold îrom these shores was invariably the signal for a décline of l^^Ices in the security markets. It is difficult to see ho'w it could be otherwise now, when our trade and commerce are apparently ■calling for every available dollar of capital we possess. The London market relieved, there would of course be less pressure to reaiize from that centre on American securities; but, so far .as opérations hère ai'e concerned, one thing seems to be aa bad as the other. It would be much better if the London demand for gold on us could be postponed until we were in a better posi¬ tion, through the return of funds from the interior to meet it. It is probably not necessary to point out that- a period of ■difficulty in the stock market at a time when the condition of -trade is most prosperous Is unprecedented, and that, therefore, the selling of securities is not so much the result of demerit as of the pecuniary necessities of the seller. The unfavorable features -of the money market must in the ordinary course of things dis¬ appear soon, and déclines in quotations will offer chances for profitable purehases that are not likely to recur for some time ■to come. T T riTH the increasing demand for money and prices gen- Jt V erally higher than they bave been for eight or ten yeara, there are also increasing signs that European business has seen its best for this movement. Recently we referred to the déclines in prices of building materials In both Great Britain and Germany, and now quote the following as it, referring as it does to realty, may be of spécial Interest to our readers; "We hâve -uow reached the wild and fabulous prices tendered for land, which ended in collapse, 33 years back, and a number of in- .■stances could be given of iand taken on building lease on which .costly premises hâve been erected, that were found to yield :revenue only sufficient to pay ground rent, rates, taxes and re¬ pairs, and In despalr the owners or their executors hâve en- treated the land owners to relieve them and take their property. 'One very récent case has already come under my notice. The land was taken at upwards of £2,300 a year rental; £10,000 were spent on the property, the whole of whieh had been given as a premium by the executors to be relieved of the burden, Many récent lettings hâve been effected where land has been taken at ■9s, ($2.16) per foot, that is not worth more than 5s. ($1.20). I would advise all building and other societies and associations to ■avoid making advanees on city property (i. e. property within the limits of the ancient corporation of the eity of London, and .Including the financial and best business sections) as a panic is not far off," Thîs remarkably frank exposition of the situa¬ tion is made in a letter written to the London "Times" by T. E. Knightley, surveyor to the Birkbeck Building Society, one of, if not the largest land and ioan societies in the world. Another of the signs referred to Is that the subscription to the new Paris municipal loan waa very lukewarm. The loan was subscribed, lint that is all, and the contrast between thia and similar offer¬ ings, which were applied for eight or ten times over, is very great. Sales of quite a number of large ironworks by members of the Hungarian nobility hâve been reported recently, so that to the eye of a foreign contemporary it looks as though the high Hungarian aristocracy were suddenly withdrawing from in¬ dustry. To our mind it is another indication of the early pro¬ spective décline of European trade. Tbe "high arlstocraoy" haa an excellent position from which to gauge the future, and their selliug now is a proof of tbeir business sensé as was their buying in or founding iron-works years ago. While China and her re¬ sources are the subject of so much attention, it may interest mony to know that the Pékin Syndicate, of London. whioh haa concessions in the provinces of Honan and ShanshI, publishes a report from one of its agents whieh illuminâtes the term, so often employed, the immense resources of China, This report states there are in Eastern ShanshI anthracite coal fields having an area of 13,500 square miles, and in Western Shanehi bituminoua fields having an area of 30.000 square miles, There is also abund¬ ance of iron ore, and the only want to make both coal and iron valuabie is facility of transportation. For purpose of compari¬ son it may be well to say that the area of the British coal fielda is 9,000 square miles, and that of those of Pennsylvania 12.774 square miles. The Realty Market. ■"^ H'E brokerage business discloses little, if any, tendency to ■*■ départ from the lines which it has followed since the opening of the season, Nevertheless, the expectation of a fur¬ ther Improvement In the character of the market was not dis¬ appointed. The bulk of the deaUng was In private houses, it ia true, but the proportion of first-class dwellings disposed of was larger than usual. The budget contained a relartively large number of apartment houses, some of which were no doubt bought for investment. However, the number was notable only by comparison with récent weeks. An unmistakable sign^ of growing affluence in the community was the purchase of sites for new churches by several religious bodies. The recently or¬ ganized S't. Aloysius Roman Catholic congrégation, in the ab¬ sence of an available vacant plot within the parish, bought six dwellings in West 123d street, which will be replaced by a church. The buyer of a parcel in West 69th street was reported to be a re¬ ligious corporation. E. A. Cruikshank & Co,, as brokers, con¬ cluded the sale of a site in Broome and Elizabeth streets to the Italian Mdssion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, wbose home in Mulberry street was very much contracted by the Elm street widening. In short, the influence of gênerai industrial prosperity, as the brokerage reports hâve shown in the récent past, is making Itself felt in the real estate market by an inereasingly better demand for private houses and for properties available for the use of social and religious bodies, as well as by an increasing frequency of purehases by manufacturing and commercial houses. However, a distinction must be made between pur¬ ehases for o'ceupancy and for investment pure and simple. Apart from purehases for occupancy, the activity in the broker¬ age market is almost exciusively spéculative. The spéculative business of the week was of a fairly miscel¬ laneous character, embracing, besides many sites adapted for im¬ provement in the apartment and tenement house districts, a few in the mid^own mercantile sections. Among the transactions by the professional élément was the purchase of the westerly block front in Bleecker street, between Commerce and Barrow, of No. 268 Bleecker street, and of No. 26 West 9th street by Man¬ delbaum & Lewine from Chas. F. Southmayd, formerly of the firm Evarts, Southmayd & Beaman. By this transaction Mr. Southmayd disposes of the last of his real estate holdings, ex¬ cept hîs résidence, a Columbia Collège leasehold. In Sth avenue. Mr. Southmayd began to seli oS his real estate, about flfteen par¬ cels, about four years ago; most of it has been bought and re¬ sold by Man^delbaum & Lewine. No. 26 West Oth street was Mr. Southmayd's résidence when the city was younger than now. It is at présent occupied by the Chinese Consul, and has been practically resold fay Mandelbaum & Lewine. Some Interesting détails of the Roman Catholic Orphan AJsylum deal were obtained yesterday from a member of the purchasing syndicate, although the contract of sale has not been signed. The syndicate consists of Charles T. Barney, Henry Seligman, Geo. R. Sheldon, Wm. F, Havemeyer, Jchn A. McCall, E. N. Gibbs, Geo. Viator, E. N. Baylies, Lyman Bunn and William Allen Butler, Jr. The syndicate was organized by E. De Forest Simmons and Richard M'. Montgomery, and, with a few changes of personnel, Is id-entlcal with that whose bld Messrs. Simmons and Montgomery submitted this summer, Messrs. Simmons and Montgomery are also the ayndicate's agents for the resale of the property. The purchase price is $2,450,000. The I