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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 26, no. 656: October 9, 1880

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXYI. NEW YOBK, SATUBDAT, OCTOBEB 9, 1880. No. 656 Published Weekly by %\it %ml ^stat« %ttaxii %BBocmixa\x, 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