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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 65, no. 1672: March 31, 1900

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March 31, 1900. RECORD AND GUIDE. DeAteD io RfAL Estate. BuiLoirfc ^iffrEeruRE .KouseHoio IteaB^Twt Bifsutess A»faThemes Of GEifeRflilftE«F»j« PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Publiahcd every Saturday. Tblbphone, Cortlandt 1370. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. ••Entered at the Post-Office at New Tork, N. Y., as second-class malttr." judging by the work of the Register's offlce, has already experi¬ enced relief by the failure of the Mortgage Tax bill. Dating from the announcement of the death of that measure an increase in the papers filed has been noticed. This increase has been growing until, as our other columns show, it has become quite heavy. The numerical difference between conveyances and mortgages, the former exceeding the latter to an unusual de^ gree, is explained by the failure of the mortgage business yet to recover from the agitation of the tax measure. Vol. LXV. MARCH 31, 1900. No. 1672. A CHECK was given to the upward movement in stock market prices hy the fiercer phase of the fight in the sugar trade, and another by the large valuations put upon fran¬ chises for purposes of taxation by the State Board of Tax Commissioners. However, the market quickly recovered from these -adverse influences, showing its latent strength and the presence of a large unprofessional buying element. Professional operations have on the whole heen directed against higher quo¬ tations, as they usually are in the early days of a bull move¬ ment and until the genuineness of that movement has been proved by their profit and loss acccunt. The facts of tbe week force the conclusion that there is still good prospective profit in all stocks unaffected by the adverse influences of trade war, taxa¬ tion and danger of adverse legislation. The latter is growing smaller from week to week, and will soon be of such a vanishing character as to release most of the industrials from an influence that has depressed them since the opening of Congress. As to the war of competitive sugar refineries, there is a feeling that that has to be fought out to a finish, much as the parallel rail¬ road war was fought between West Shore by New York Central fifteen years ago. In these contests the value of the stocks of the contending corporations always suffer. As to the strength of the local traction stocks under the announcement of the franchise assessments, that is surprising and explainable only on the hypothesis that the friends of the properties affected do not expect that th'ey will be compelled to pay taxes on the valuations announced. If it were thought that the courts would sustain the assessments the market results could not fail to be different to what they have heen up to now. The assessments sustained wculd quadruple the taxes of Brooklyn Rapid Transit, double those of Manhattan Elevated, multiply several times those of the Metropolitan Street Railway and of the Third Avenue Railroad. The gross sum in each case would materially eat into net earnings and cculd not but be reflected in lower quotations for the stocks at least of these properties. It is therefore reasonable to conclude from the strength of quotations that their managers expect to' avoid much of the impending increase of taxes. PASSING frcm Wall street into the field cf realty, a quite different view cf the franchise valuations ia found to exist. There it is felt that the State Board of Tax Commis¬ sioners has properly interpreted the law, and hopes are natur¬ ally entertained that their assessments will be maintained and tbe burden of the public charges extended to what may be called intangible real estate, and tangible real estate thereby find some relief. The total franchise valuations fcr this city amount to $280,573,006 in the place cf $70,918,025 of valuations hy local as¬ sessors under the old law. This amount is subject to revision by the Tax Commissioners after hearing protests; and of course the corporations affected may go to the courts to have the final as¬ sessments set aside. What fortune will attend appeal in either case we are of course unable to say, hut under all circumstances there is a good prospect of the amount of taxable property in this city being largely increased and the tax rate correspondingly reduced. Commissioner Feitner, of the Tax Department, esti¬ mates that the tax rate for this year will be ten cents lower than that cf last year, irrespective cf the franchise valuations, and that the latter may reduce it say five or six cents more, which if finally proved accurate will materially relieve dwellings, busi¬ ness premises and land unimproved. The Commissioner, how¬ ever, gives this estimate subject to the proviso that the Legis¬ lature and the Governor will sustain the Mayor in his veto of the Davis and ether bills that wculd, if enacted, materially in¬ crease the budget. The outlook for a substantially lower tax- rate ought to have a good effect on the realty market, which, Commerce and Realty. GROWTH OF THE ONE CREATES HOPES FOR THE OTHER. XT EITHER the brokerage reports nor the auction results of ■^ jL the week reveal any actual departure in the real estate market from the condition of inactivity which has prevailed since the middle of February. Nevertheless, the prospect for better business has been materially improved. Loans on bond aud mortgage are more easily obtainable on satisfactory terms, and brckers generally report a resumption or initiation of prom¬ ising negotiations. Realty is repeating the experience of stocks and bonds, though being a less mobile commodity, some little time may yet be required for it to gather headway. We have entered upon the period in which there is normally a relaxation ia the money market, following what has this year been an unusually severe tension. During part of February and March there is always a more or less heavy call upon the New York banks for funds to meet the requirements of the interior spring trade, while at the same time the local monetary institutions are required to provide for the custonis duties upon merchandise imports, which thea reach their maximum. Toward the end of March, however, the debit balance of the local banks at the Federal treasury commence to decline, and the interior banks begin to forward their surplus balances for redeposit here. During April, when the interior is paying off its debt for mer¬ chandise purchased in New York, the concentration of capital ■ usually culminates, and money remains plentiful until July, at the opening of the crop-moving season. Purchases in New York this spring by interior merchants have been extraordinarily heavy. Commonly a larger business is done in tbe autumn than in the spring. But this season the applica¬ tions on the part of out-of-town buyers for rebates on the ex¬ cursion fares arranged with the railways by the Merchants' As^ . Eociation have been far more numerous than in any fall since the association was organized four years ago. The heavy buying this year is accounted for in part by rising prices. Merchants are hastening to lay in stock in anticipation of the further advances that are foreseen. This appears to apply to all commodities. But it is especially true of woolen and cotton products, the raw material of which began to rise about five months ago, and has now become marked. The drygoods trade has been one of the last to reap the benefits of renewed general industry. But it also has now been swept into the tide of prosperity, and the effect is noticeable in the large and important real estate inter¬ ests that derive their income from the drygoods business. Broad¬ way, as has been frequently pointed out, was pretty well rented up last year. This year the New Mercantile District, between Broadway and West Broadway, which has lcng been dead, is coming back to life. The proportion of vacancies is ceasing to be excessive, some new buildings are being constructed, and, while asking rents bave not advanced, reductions are uo longer necessary. The latest Monthly Summary cf Commerce and Finance of the United States, namely, tbat for January, prepared by the Bureau of Statistics at Washingtcn, though dry as any blue-book, con¬ tains data mere eloquent than any after-dinner oration on the prospects of New York real estate. It shows that during the seven preceding months, as compared- with the corresponding mcnths a year earlier. New York's imports and exports in¬ creased nearly 17 per cent., while the imports and exports of the country as a whole increased 15 per cent., and those cf Boston and Charleston, Philadelphia, Newport News and New Orleans together. New York's chief rivals, increased only 14 per cent. New York's business is growing handsomely, not only absolutely but relatively. With probably a larger spring mercantile busi¬ ness than this city has ever before experienced, with rapid transit under constructicn, with wcrk on the Bedford extension of the Manhattan elevated to start on Monday, with a transfer system in promise covering all the surface lines, with a lower tax rate, with the Stranahan bill dead, with cheap money, why shouldn't we have at least a normal real estate market until the ciitiUK season .begins? High constructional ccst may check building in many classes of housing, but not in all, as was pcinted out last week. Furthermore, the rise in materials and labor, by adding