Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 70, no. 1798: August 30, 1902

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August 30, 1902, RECOTiD AND GUIDE. 287 <:=■ Dntrifi) TD Rf^L Bstajt . SuiLdij/g ApcKrTEPnJRE .t{ciiiSE3loiD Ddso^oM. Busi»/e35 AfipThemes of GejIer^ iK^Rpsi. riUCE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS PablisHed eVers Saturdag Ooouniinloatloaa should ba addreesed M> C. W. SWEET, I4«J6 Vesey Street, New YorK J. f. t.tMTtftPTY', BoslneBa Manner fttophoBa. Oortlandt 81ST "JWf.e " i 'i« /^ s 0 ;c n( UTew rorl N. T", ga tecond- la s matter." Vol. LXX. AUGUST 30, 1902. No. 1798. IN the week just closed the Stock market has been undecided and dull, rather than weak, the contributing causes to this being the imminence of a three days' holiday and an uncertain outlook for money. Of these the last was by far the most po¬ tent and important. The demand for money from the interior is steady and heavy, and, as there is a considerable period during which the requirements for handling the crops may continue and a still longer period before the money so used will return to this centre, stock speculation may languish and prices sag. The meas¬ ures taken by the Treasury and the banks to meet a possible emergency are encouraging, but they also reveal possible abnor¬ mal conditions, during the prevalence of which speculation will be discouraged. Still, whatever is untoward in the situation is of a temporary nature and does not affect values in the main. The very necessity this centre is under to supply funds for moving large crops is an indirect argument In favor of values. Espe¬ cially is this the case when it is remembered that the bounteous returns of the srain fields are accompanied by a general activity in all kinds of business, except where such activity is checked by the refusal of some parties to take part in it. While the movements of money will influence those of securities for a time, the results of the harvest and of the commercial and man¬ ufacturing industry will sustain them iu the long run. The oc¬ casion may be taken to deflate some prices that have passed reason, but in the main the outlook is in no ways discouraging. It is not unlikely that the relief measures of the Treasury will be supplemented by help from abroad should occasion arise to call for either. The general impression is that this country is already a large debtor to Europe; the proportions of this obli¬ gation are probably exaggerated, and the demand for foodstuffs, cotton and other of our products must soon have the effect of restoring the balance between us. The fall is a time wheu the agricultural sections call on the financial for aid in Europe as well as here, but there there is no extended industrial and com¬ mercial demand to aggravate the situation; and, with capital plentiful there, it would be easy to arrange for a westward movement. NO matter what may be their views upon the subject, the owners of real estate in this city have now to prepare themselves for a large increase in tax valuations. At bottom it is not so much a matter of percentage of values as of the neces¬ sity the administration are under of providing means to carry out needed improvements. This necessity was foreseen a long time ago, and various suggestions made to meet it, but none was of undoubtful success, and each required a considerable time for accomplishment; meanwhile need was pressing. The quickest and readiest way of meeting this need is undoubtedly the in¬ crease of the assessed valuations, which official authorities have been at so much pains to prove have a margin that can he so employed. In taking this the easiest way out of their difficulty the Low administration is following the precedent set by the Van Wyck administration in 1S98, except that while tax values will be increased to enlarge the borrowing power of the city, the ad¬ ministration is under no need to increase the tax rate also, in order to meet the ordinary expenses of government. It is pos¬ sible, and even likely that the valuations will be increased suf- ficienly to lower the tax rate, so that the amount of money the taxpayers will have to pay will stand at about the same figures as now. plus the amount required to pay interest on new bonds issued, and any Increase that may be made in departmental ex¬ penditures, and minus any decrease that may result from more economical management. There are many objections to sudden and sensational advances in tax valuations to be set against the advantage of easy expediency, but the alternatives were, increase the tax valuations or hold up improvements. The administra¬ tion have decided upon the former, and it is now not worth while discussing the general question, nor the particular one until the effects of their policy are seen. One question may be asked with pertinence, and that is: What will be done in a similar emer¬ gency when valuations have been put at "par"? Go on assessing the vacuum beyond "par"? The Real Estate Situation. ^pHE number of sales reported this week show a slight Im- -A. provement in business over that of last week. Dwellings continue to represent the bulk of the business reported; in fact, brokers generally state that they could sell almost any kind of a dwelling at good prices, but they find them hard to get. The general feeling seems to be that next month will see the be¬ ginning of a season which will be if anything more active than last spring and that most of the business will be in the finished or new buildings, and not in lots or old properties suitable for improvement As a reason for this, the brokers point to the fact that iron and steel are still scarce and hard to get as they have been for some months, and that operators will not buy lots to hold. Builders will not buy if they cannot get iron. There are at the present time a number of building operations which are held back for the want of that very necessary material. The most interesting announcement of the week is the formation of a constructing company by the Century Realty Co., particulars of which are given in another column, and the fact that the lat¬ ter company will erect an 18-story office building on the plot of three lots which they own adjoining the Knickerbocker Trust Company building on Thirty-fourth street. This certainty of the continuation of the high-building movement up-town is full of encouragement to owners of land as well as to those who look to profit by construction. For the first time in several years, it looks as if the owners of real estate on the West Side would soon be in a position to secure good returns on their investment. The brokers in that section report an excellent demand for expensive and middle- priced apartments, and they expect to be able to fill their build¬ ings to an extent which has not been possible, since the building of elevator and apartment houses on a large scale began in 1898. The proportion of vacancies in many of the seven-story houses has run as high as forty or fifty per cent., so that some of them were actually run at a loss. It is usual to calculate on ten or fif¬ teen per cent, of vacancies, but a larger proportion than that means a very low rate of return to the owner, and consequently a rent-roll, which makes possible purchasers disinclined to buy. Hence it was that at one time many very doubtful expedients were used by the owners of such houses in order to make up a rent roll which would be attractive to investors, but which at the end of the year would prove to be largely "faked." These practices made capitalists exceedingly suspicious of this form of investment and a year or more ago the builders of elavator apartments had many such buildings left unsold on their hands. It was this fact coupled with the discouraging effect of the new tenement house law that brought the construction of apartment houses almost to a standstill. During the past eighteen months, only a few million dollars have been spent in this kind of build¬ ing, whereas before 1901 as much as $15,000,000 had been spent in a single year. The consequence is that the demand is catch¬ ing up to the supply, so that in a few cases landlords have been able to raise rents on new tenants. ■ Doubtless it will take several years to make conditions entirely satisfactory. The many apart¬ ment houses on Broadway, for instance, cannot be very well fiiled, as long as the Subway construction work continues; but, as that work will last less than a year longer, this cause of dis¬ turbance will soon disappear. Soon thereafter the Subway will be in operation, which will be an unequivocal advantage to the West Side. The whole western line of that section will be enor¬ mously benefited by the quicker transit and more convenient stations. Both private dwellings and apartments will he in bet¬ ter demand than ever, and will probably remain so. There is not very much vacant laud remaining on the West Side to be improved and the supply is not likely again to run so far ahead of the demand. Before many years are out there will be so lit- tie vacant land remaining that the reconstruction of the West Side will begin almost before its initial improvement is ended. On certain streets builders will find it profitable to tear down some of the smaller private dwellings and replace them with apartment houses, while on Broadway the old five-story brown- atone flats will doubtless be superseded by apartment hotels. For in New York one stage of improvement is rapidly succeeded by another, and no section remains quiescent for a very long time.