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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 64, no. 1637: July 29, 1899

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Jnly 29, 1899. RECORD AND GUIDE. .^^^ Bt;sD^3juù>liaâs^1rfiatFsi^ PSICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS.' Piiblinhcd every Saturday. TELBrlIONE, CORTLANUT 1370. CoramunioatioT^ should be adâressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-36 Vesey Street, ■1. 1. LTNDSEY, Bushiiiss Maintf/er. "Enieriid al Iht FoBi-Op%ce al New SorK, A'. T., assicond-class inalter." Vol. LXIV. JULT 20, 1899. No. 1,637. The Index to Volume LJI[I of the Becord aiid Guide, core?-- ing tlie period hetween Jainiary lst and June '.\Oth, 1899, is now ■ready for delivery. Frice, iffl. This Index in Us enlarged form is now recofjiUised as iiidlspensahle to every one engaged or interested in real estate and- building opérations. It eovers all transactions—deeds, nwrigages, leases, auction sales, building plans filed, etc. Orders far tlio Index should be sent at once 1.0 the office of publication, 14 and IG Yesey Street. ESPITE Lhe dullness in Wall Street security prices main- taiu their strength. To enunierate the causes productive oT this condition of things is to , repeat what has been sàici several times before about tlie excellence of the gênerai commercial situation and the indisposition of hold¬ en; to part "with their securities. Any activity in buying dis¬ closes a scareity of stocks. This is perfectiy natural because it is not in times of confidence and prosperity that people throw their holdings on the market, but when tlie conditions are ex- actly the reverse. It îs by O'verlooking this fact tkat those who remain bears on the market maîce their mistake. Prices may be too high for a good many issues, hut so long as the owners of the latter refuse to acknowledge this fact they will remain high, The stubhorn résistance to attacks on quotations which has character¬ ized our market for a month îs merely a répétition of the move¬ ments of European markets when the prosperity of the commun- itiea they reflected was in the stage that ours is in now. The pre¬ llminary railroad earning statements for the fiscal year, which with very few exceptions ends on June SOth, which are now be¬ ginning to appear, are decidedly encouraging, showing as they do a satisfactory increase in profits on stock. Where thèse state¬ ments are supplemented by equally good current statements, in¬ dicating a continuanee of profitable opérations into the new fiscal year, stockholders are naturaily encouragea to believe that prés¬ ent quotations do not represent possible values in a reasonably near future. ALTHOUGH the mind more given to humorous than other views pictures the results of the Peace Conférence as Will¬ iam T. Stead, standing in a débris of rejected resolutions shout- ing "Victory; Praised be the Czar," there are others who believe, while admitting a woeful lack of actual practical results, tha't good will come of it. Some important questions hâve been ventilateû and the difiiculties in the way of achieving the great object in view hâve been exposed; moreover, a way has been found in the proposed conventions to keep the discussion altve. Thèse com¬ bined make one of those slow but sure steps towards universal progress that are more to be desired than more flaunting, hut ephemeral results. The conférence has undoubtely heiped to improve the world's political situation. Regarding the European financial situation, the press continues to dévote a great deal of attention to money. There is practical unanimity that rates wili be higher and tbat some stringency will prevail when the iarvest and holiday demands become pronounced. Thèse condi¬ tions may continue, with more or less severity, until the opening of the new year. In London, the holding of the Bank of England rate at 3^2%. notwithstanding the development of easier condi¬ tions at the moment, is approved as a measure of précaution to strengthen the Bank against possible future rather than actual présent demands. The condition of the Reichsbank indicates greater tension at Berlin than was experienced this time Iast year. A rise in the rates for public loans continues to be a marked phenomenon of the situation In Germany. Nuremburg, which is said to be one of the best communities in the Empire from the in¬ vestor's point of View, had recently to pay nearly 4% for a loan and in ail municipal loans, of which a great number hâve recently been placed upon the market for the purpose of raisiug funds for electric railways and iighting plants, the same phenomenon of the rising interest rate has heen observed. It is announced that the délégations who are to arrange the common budget of Aus- tria-Hungary will meet at Budapest in October. Some daim that necessary adjournments will delay assembly until Decemher. The removal of-the obstacles to the Ausgleich has called attention to the question of eurrency reform, begun some years ago, but held in obeyance owing to the uncertainty of the outcome cf the more important matter. The Hungarian Finance Minister, when asked when the Austro-Hungarian bank would return to cash payments, gave an evasive answer, stating that the coining of the gold and the printing of the new notes would take a long time, perhaps three years, and, as there was no knowing how tbe economical arrangements of Austria and Hungary might by that time bave developed, it was not safe to make any binding engagements, The gênerai political aud financial situation is favorahly interpreted on the Vienna bourse. The Rand gold production for June was 445,793 ozs., an increase of S30 ozs. over that of May The pro¬ duction for the half year and for the corresponding periods of the three immediately preceding years were: 1S99, 2,585 565 ozs ■ 189S 1,961,663 ozs; 1897, 1,388,431 ozs.; 1896, 1,054,503 ozs. THE KEALTY MARKET. -J EiE number of plans flled for elevator apartments is evi¬ dently increasing întensively, as- well as extensively In other words, the spéculative construction of elevator flats is being cnccuraged by cheap money in addition to cheaper appliances of opération. An excellent proof of the ahundance of capital available for projections involving heavy outlay is the growing proportion of apartment hôtels in the weekly reports of plans filed. Time was when it was difficult to secure loans for this style of residential housing, for the reason that the économie suc¬ cess of an apartment hotei dépends so very largeiy upon the capability of one individual. It requires a mueh higher order of executive ability to build and provide for the equipment and or¬ ganizatlon of a family hotel than to build and secure tenants for a flat house. The existence of a plentiful supply of capital available for build¬ ing opérations being couceded ta be an active force in the real estate market, the question arises as to how far thîs is a condition which ÎS likely to endure. Indications point to- a more or less permanently higher interest rate on money employed in com¬ merce and the manufacturing and transportational industries The expansion of capital needed to conduct gênerai business dur¬ ing the autumn months will, no doubt, tend to restrict temporar¬ ily the funds available for building operation-hardly however to a sufficient exteot to influence the interest rate on real estate loans, particularly as loans of this character are for a compara¬ tively long period. Furthermore, the money required for the building opérations that are to begin in the fail wilî for the most part bave been secured months in advance. The continuous fall in the interest rate 'on real estate mort- gages, which has been so couspicuous a feature of the money market fo-r the past few years, bas been occasioned to a large ex¬ tent by shrinkage in the value of the asset. Money was loaned at, say, 5% during the Iast period of prosperity; that is before the panic of 1S93, when real estate values were much inflated Smce then the process of weeding out financially weak owners of realty has been in constant opération by means of foreclosure suits. It is estimated that, in about 85 per cent, of the properties loreclosed, the plaintiffs hâve been compelled to protect their in¬ vestments by purchase of the fee, the purchase invariably re¬ cording a lower valuation than that upon which the loans were madé. This process of eliminating inflated values has now prac¬ tically come to an end, and prices are once more on a basis of intrinsic merit. Meantime, the interest rate has declined in sym- pathy with the décline in prices. With the continuanee of gênerai prosperity, the process is likely to be—first, an increase in the mtrinsie value of real estate, then spéculative inflation of prices, followed by a stiffening of iuterest rates corresponding to the degree of instability infused into the market value of the asset As yet, however, the activity slowiy returning to real estate has not developed sufficiently, broadly speaking, to influence prices. Loans on real estate, unlike loans on stocks and bonds, continue to be made on stable values. There is nothing in the existing condition of the real estate market to indicate in the immédiate future a stiffening of rates on mortgage ïoans similar to that which is noticeable in commerce and the industries. Fur¬ thermore, when the expected boom in realty does come, the average interest rates will hardly rise to the average of the last boom, for in an economically progressive community the perma¬ nent tendency of capital interest is downward, though not in a straight line.