Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 76, no. 1950: July 29, 1905

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RECORD AND GUIDE 20I ^ -^ ESTfiBUSHED-^tiytr^HSLil^lSeS. EtoM p REA,L^EsTATE.BlJlLOIffc -\RaflTECTUR.E,Ho^JSEil01DDESaipit Busn/Ess Atto Themes Of GEflEi^UjitER.EST|.j PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Published eVerg Saturdag Communications etould ne addreased to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. New York Toiephone. Cortlandt 3157 "■Entered at the Post Office at Neto York, JV, T., aa second'Clasa mailer." Copyright by the Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide Company. Vol, LXXVI. JULY 2<>, 1905. No. lOoft. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. (Advertising Section,) Page. Cement .............. xxv Clay Products .......... ssiv Contractors and Builders. vi FireprooBng .......... ii Granite .............. xiv Heating .............. sx Jron and Steel.......... avili Page, viil Law ............... Machinery ............ v Metal Work ........... xxii Stone ................ xxiii Quick Job Directory., ,, sxvil Real Estate ........... xii Wood Products ........ xxvi NOTHING has happened during the week to diminish the confldeace which may well be felt in the. immediate fu¬ ture of S'tock Market quotations. The news continues on the whole to he encouraging. Of course as long as the wheat and corn crops continue to be open to damage, it will 'be pos¬ sible to make raids upon the market, and it is improbable that any considerable rise can take place until the possibility of serious damage is past. But the action of the railway com¬ panies in recently ordering large amounts of materials indi¬ cates that the people who are in a position to know best ex¬ pect a large business during the fall; and this very action has alrea.dy decidedly improved the outl&ok in the steel trade. If this improvement should continue, and if the earning of the steel corporation should continue to be .very large, it is possible that the preferred stock of that company, which is always a popular material for speculation, might lead in the market advance, and might sell between 115 and 120. THE SUN makes the interesting point that the demand for a good class of private dwellings is being much better sustained during the current summer than is usually the case. This demand does not seek houses which cost from $150,000 up, as it did in 1901 and 1902. It rather prefers houses wilich cost from $75,000 to $125,000; and it comes not from Western millionaires, who are seeking "palatial" homes in New York City, but rather from old residents of New York, ■who have been able to sell at good prices houses which they have long occupied south of 42d street and who are using the money to buy new houses farther north. This description of the situation is essentially correct. The large demand for very expensive houses situated on Fifth avenue or between Madison and Fifth avenues has never recovered from the slump Qf 1903, because the financial losses of that year fell chiefly on very rich people. But pecple who are moderately rich and can afford to spend §100.000 more or less on their residences have been the people who have profited most, both from the recent rises both in security and in real estate values. It is they TOho are buying Lhe houses on the East Side situated between Lexington and Madison avenues, frequently with the money oUained by the sale of houses situated farther south, and it iGoks as if a demand of this kind would continue to he active for several years to come. The speed of the business inva¬ sion of the residence districts south of 42d street is accelerating ra;ther than diminishing, and depends upon permanent causes. The question is, whether the Bast Side between 60th and 90th streets and west of Lexington or Park avenues contains enough room to satisfy the demand. Many of the streets are disqualified by the character of their existing buildings and can only be made available by radical reconstruction. It looks as if such reconstruction would be inevitable in the course of time and that there was money to be made in purchasing houses in a neighborhood which is neglected at present, but whose location will necessitate its eventual improvement. THE experts in the Comptroller's office are right in as¬ serting that the average assessed value of real estate in New York City is very far fram being as high as it should he. When the level of assessment was raised during Mayor Low's administration, the Record and Guide showed with some care that the average assessment was about 90 per cent, of the selling value; and considering the dubions element in all real estate values, the assessment for tax purposes should certainly leave a margin of 10 per cent. But since values have been increasing more rapidly than the assessments, and we imagine that the calculation of the Comptroller's experts' average of about 77 per cent, is an over rather thair an under¬ estimate. A-n inference to this effect is justified by the figures which the Record and Guide publishes every week. Thus, there have been since Jan, 1st, 1,145 conveyances recorded in which considerations were expressed, and the amount of money in¬ volved in these transfers was about $57,000,000. This total really represents the value of the property conveyed, because the great majority of these parcels were sold by executors and trustees, or under court oi-ders. But the aggregate as¬ sessed value of the property, which sold for $57,000,000 was about $41,000,000 or only about "2 per cent. Pacts such as these indicate that there is room for a careful revision of the official figures; and it is to he hoped that in the re-assess¬ ment now underway such a revision will be made. 'During the last year the most important increases in value have taken place in vacant property on Washington Heights, in the Bronx, and in certain parts of Brooklyn, and it is desirable from every point of view that the increased value of this vacant property should be fully registered on the assessment lists. When the city officials permit the owners of vacant lots to charge much larger sums for such property than the amount on which taxes are paid, the city is pi-actically discouraging improvement. The result of the policy ia lo enconrage the owners to hold out for higher prices, and consequently to com¬ pel builders to pay such prices. It is all very well to permit speculation in vacant land, but the city should not tax the man who is preventing the improvement of the city at a lower rate than it taxes the man who is spending his money in order to contribute to such improvement. WHEN the level of assessed valutions was increased some years ago, a very general fear existed among property owners that the smaller tax-rate, that was 'brought about :hy a larger assessment list would not prove to be permanent. It was .believed 'that the tax-riat)e would gradually a-eturn to a two per cent, basis; and that this percentage would have to be paid on the increased valuation. Well, there has been some tendency to increase the tax-i-ate since 1902, Tiut the tendency has not been very marked, and the fact that a reduc¬ tion has been effected for the present yeai- should encourage tax-payers to believe that a general increase in assessment does not necessarily mean an increase in tax bills. In case such an increase takes place, it must under existin'g condi¬ tions mean administrative extravagance or mismanagement, the penalty of which should be visited upon the officials of the party which is responsible. Now that the value of vacant land on the outskirts of the city is being increased, the regular ex¬ pansion i'n.the assessed valuation of real estate should be sufficient to produce as much additional income as is needed, without any raising of the tax-rate. The only change in muni¬ cipal policy which might legitimately mean an increase in tax bills would be the beginning of a system of municipal street improvements, which would not be directly remunerative, though the adoption of such a policy would in the opinion of the Record aud G'uide be very desirable and would more than re-imburse tax-payers for the increase in taxes. There is apparently no chance of its finding favor in the City Hall. All the other impoI^:aIvt municipal improvements, except school houses, should or do pay for themselves. But the proper adjustment of the whole business depends upon the work of the tax assessors. If they register the actual increases which are taking place in real estate valuations, the city should be able to obtain more ine&me than it needs on the basis of the existing tax-rate. THE DIFFICULTT which Brooklyn is having In widening the Fulton street tunnel in order to accommodate four instead of two tracks should be a warning as to the proper method of planning subways. The Record and Guide has never yet heard of a tunnel which was planned to be bigger than it need be; on the contrary they are always made too small, and have to be enlarged subsequently with great difficulty and ex¬ pense. The necessity for enlarging the Brooklyn subway is ap¬ preciated even before it is in opei'ation; and one of the great mistakes of our New York subway is the failure to four-track the Washington Heights section. It is only with a four-track road that an efficient combination of local and express ser¬ vice can be obtained; and in a city of long distances like New York such a combination is absolutely necessary. In Manhat-