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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 70, no. 1811: November 29, 1902

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Noveniber 29, 1902. RECORD AND GUIDE. 801 ESTABUSHED"^ 6\ilRPH21'-J^ 18S8. BiVirtED TO Rf\L EsTAJX . BuiLDIffc *;RClfrTEtmjRE ,KoTJSE1(OID DEeOE^ATIDlJ. .BUsiiiEss Alio Themes OF GeiJer^ iHTtRfS]. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS Pabtished every Satardag Communications sliould be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14=16 Vesey Street, New YorK 3. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager Telephone, Cortlandt 3157 "Entered at lhe Posi 0.ffice at Neio Tork, N, Y.. as second-class matter." Vol. i.AX. NOVEMBER 29, 1902. No. ISll. T T must be the love of variety that makes Wall Street look for -*■ the causes of prevailing conditions in any direction but the right one. Not satisfied with the explanation directly uuder its nose, it must have this or that other reason for the movements of prices. It is so just now, because the Street is worrying itself ahout what Congress is, as it thinks, going to do and has brought itself haif to believe that the present downward trend of prices is due to fears of tariff and tntst legislation. Consequently, the coming President's message aud the meeting of Congress are at the moment the great bear card. Prices themselves are going down because, as has been the case for six weeks, money is in great demand for industrial and commercial uses and those who need it are supplying themselves by liquidating security invest¬ ments. _This state of things supervenes on and is aggravated by the fact that it was preceded hy undue inflation of security values. Congress or no Congress liquidation must continue un¬ til the pecuniary wants of merchants and manufaeturers have been met and quotations have been sufficiently deflated to war¬ rant new buying by the conservative. There is this to he said, however, the limitation of available funds have been made so apparent and the warning has been given so far ahead that we may see the close of the crisis sooner than was first expected. The next week or two ought to close the incident and bring relief. There may be and doubtless are those who have put off making provision for their year-end requirements, but in the main it is oniy reasonable to suppose that these requirements have al¬ ready or will soon be provided. It is significant that a 40-day form of loan came Into the market last week which found favor, and the inference is that what was wanted was an assurance of funds into the opening of the New Year and not beyond. There are abundant evidences that the leading lights in the business world do not look for an abatement of present prosperous in¬ dustrial and commercial conditions, as to which railroad earn¬ ings tell the best of stories. Yesterday's market reflected these views and hinted that the alarmists are not to have things all their own way. NOT only was the negative action of the Bank of England in the matter of its discount rate something of a surprise on this side of the Atlantic, but it was to very many a disap¬ pointment as well. It would have been an excellent card to sell stocks on. As it is it shows that the great hanks on the other side —like those on this—are dealing with a difficult situation with much care and circumspection. The condition of the London muuey marKec early in the week, especially in its relations with the Continent, seemed to cail for an advance of the rate, but iater not. A further increase of the Bank of England's rate is a thing to be avoided if possible because it is already high, and any augmentation would reveal a condition of strain. The effect of this would be all the more serious because neither Great Brit¬ ain or Europe is dealing with an industrial and commercial boom ■as we are, and if their funds are absorbed in a way that would abnormally force up money market rates it can only he due to a dangerous state of affairs. The trouble is that, although a good many big loans have been floated during the past year, the in¬ vestor has kept obstinately away from the market. This leaves the promotors and loan brokers with heavy loads to carry and keeps away new business. Another unpleasant feature of the situation is the heavy and apparently yet unfinished decline in the price of silver, which threatens more or less demoralization of the Asiatic trade. This is primarily due to tbe terms of the Boxer indemnity payments insisted upon by the Powers, which compel China to sell silver in order to obtain gold. Our gov¬ ernment is probably more interested in this matter than any other and might with every propriety take an initiative towards relieving the situation. The decline in silver not only disor¬ ganizes the finances of the Philippines, but it must have an un¬ favorable influence upon our trade with Asia, outside of India, Mexico, and the South American republics. Then, too, we are the largest producers of silver in the world, and the execution of the treaty with China is operating to take money out of the pockets of our miners. The evil effects of the day to day drib¬ bling away of silver quotations regarded from the bullion mar¬ ket may he small, but from a general comprehensive view they are as widespread as trade itself. As to China, the commercial attache of the British Legation, recently reported to his govern¬ ment: "China is standing on the eve of a very grave economic crisis which must react with far-reaching consequences." As China is suffering frora the competition of India and Japan in productive lines such as those of tea and silk in which she was once pre-eminent and has, besides a difficult domestic political condition to deal with, been saddled v.dth a heavy debt, the bur¬ den of which is daily augmented by the decline in exchange as a result of the fall in silver, this is not an unreasonable view to take. --------------•-------------- Hanhattan Residences During 1902. JN November of last year the Record and Guide flrst pointed ■^ out the present very peculiar status of private dwelHng con¬ struction in Manhattan. The facts to which it drew attention were very extraordinary. Here is a Borough of Greater New York, in which ten years ago 700 or SOO private residences were being erected every year, at a cost of more than $12,000,000. Dur¬ ing the following ten years, although its population was increas¬ ing at the rate of almost 30,000 a year the number of private dwellings erected showed a steady decrease, until in the year 1901 the low water mark of only 99 such buildings was reached. During the same period the estimated cost of these dwellings de¬ creased, but not at all in the same proportion, and this fact supplied the explanation of such an extraordinary change. The price of unimproved land iu all available residence districts had increased continuously, thus adding every year a few thou¬ sand dollars to the figure at which a private dwelling could be placed upon the market. The consequence inevitably was a diminution in the number of such buildings which it paid to erect, and an increase in the cost. These tendencies culminated in 1899. at which time very little space was-left for comparative¬ ly cheap residences on the West Side, and at which time, also, a largely augmented demand appeared for a more expensive class of private dwellings. The whole movement is described very clearly in the following table, which we reproduce from our ar¬ ticle of last year and bring down to date: No. Estimated Average per dwellings. cost. dwelling, ir:02. Jan.-N'ov.............. IZO S=S.OSl,0tlO S;u2,HiO l!H)l....................... !.l!) C-,.'.)21.000 50,800 VMO....................... 112 3,928,000 35.000 '^^'■10....................... 338 8.321J,70O 24.(100 ]>■!!«....................... 339 l.i,182,S00 18.200 1>"'....................... 492 7.49-2,]0l) 15,200 ^xor........................ 410 5.527,!l.50 i;-5,4iiO l^"''....................... 515 S.7SI7.750 17,000 1894....................... 404 8.000,JOO 17,2fO 1803....................... 511 0.510,7."O 19 000 18!I2....................... 710 12,112.-),.11II) 17 500 iNOi....................... oiiT ii,22u,r.un iii.ooo 1SU9....................... .s;r. i2.iii;3,ooo 15 too 1SS9....................... 759 12,733.000 lOJOO It will be seen from the foregoing table that during the first eleven months of 1902 plans were filed for 130 dwellings to be erected at an estimated cost of $8,081,000, which was an aver¬ age of $62,ICO for each dwelling. All these figures show an in¬ crease over the year before. The number of dwellings went up about 30 per cent, the gross estimated cost, about 31 per cent, while the estimated cost of the average dwelling also increased slightly. According to the recorus almost as much money was spent on 130 dwellings last year as was spent upon 515 dwellings in 1895, and these figures do not measure the whole difference, be¬ cause large sums are spent upon decorating the expensive dwell¬ ings, which do not appear in the estimated cost. The really as¬ tonishing fact is that the average cost of each dwelling erected on Manhattan Island is over $62,000; for it means that, with the land, these dwellings cost their owners twice that sum and could not be maintained by anyone whose income was less than $25,000 a year. Equally interesting are the figures which show the way which these private dwellings are being distributed in different parts of the city. Thus out of the 130 dwellings for which plans were filed during the first eleven months of 1902, nine were to be sit¬ uated on Washington Heights, 31 to the east of Central Park, 35 to the west of Central Park, 33 to the south of Central Park and 22 to the north of Central Park. The residences which are to be situated on Washington Heights and Harlem are comparatively cheap structures, the average cost ranging from $15,000 In the first district to $24,000 in the second. The 31 dwellings that are