Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 64, no. 1635: July 15, 1899

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July 15, 1899. RECORD AND «GîUlDF 5^] ^^ PRICE PER YEAR IN AOVANCE SIX DOLLARS. PiiblUhcd every faturday. TELEPHONE, COKTLANDT 1370. , Oommunlcation^ should be addresaed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J. 2. LINDSEY, Business Manager. " Entered at the Fost-O^tce at New York, N. Y., as seeond-elass matter." Vol. LXIV. JTTLT 15, 1890. No. 1,635. FROM ail sections trade reports are on the whole satisfactory. Ali trades may not be as flourishing as that of iron and steel, hut hère we encounter very exceptional conditions amount¬ ing almost to révolution in certain directions, which, as will be seen below, îs as apparent in Europe as it is hère. In this line it is clear that the facilities of supply will hâve to be increased to meet the demands of the next few years. Hère and there in textile trades some complalnt îs heard, but thèse trades will ben¬ efit later on by the prosperity in others. The Stock Market man¬ ifesta considérable strength, though It must be confessed that it has been pretty hard to keep up prices of the securities select¬ ed for spéculative manipulation, that is the high-priced Trunk Liners and Grangers. It is not unnatural seeing how thèse hâve been advanced that owners should be willing to sell .whenever they find such opportunities as hâve been presented in the past three weeks. A rise in low-prîced issues reporting improved earnings would seem the right thing to engineer, if there is to be a bull market in stocks at ail. That is what is taking place in bonds. In the latter class issues that hâve been dîscredited foi years are coming to the front and reaching a basis of five per cent, or less, because of the improvement that is being shown in tbe business of the propertles upon which they are predicated, by the periodic reports of earnings. A reasonable basis could be found for a similar movement in low-priced stocks, which could secure more support from the public than one to advance prices already high, ail things considered. A little sensation, quickly extinguished, was created this week by the announcement that the New York Life Insurance Company had decided to sell ail its stock holdings and in future not to invest in ownership corporate représentations. It subsequently appeared that the stocks held by the Company were not only comparatively small in amount, but were not to be thrown upon the market at once, and that the action of the company was required by a purely domestic policy and was in no wise to be taken as a criticism of the value of stocks for investment purposes. Such a criticism, if intended, would bave been absurd, because as représentative of other In¬ surance companles pointed out, some stocks are safer investments than some bonds. Of course, the managers of the New York Life Insurance Company know this, and it is not their fault if their action was misunderstood. Coming back to stock market prices it may be stated as a summary ot the situation, that there is a good undercurrent of strength, raids made to test the con¬ fidence of holders of listed securities are not successful in bring¬ ing out long stock, and this fact is due to the gratifying reports of earnings and the soundness generally of the commercial sit¬ uation. The offer of the Mexican loan this week is interesting as the first instance of a foreign loan being offered to public sub- ecription in this market, and makes for a more extended finan¬ cial business in future. A MONG the events of ihe week affecting European financial ■**■ affairs, the report of the Parliamentary Committee rec- ommending the adoption of measures to maintain the gold stand¬ ard in India and the advance of the Bank of England's rate of discount from 3% to 31/:;% are the most important. The Commit¬ tee's recommendation if adopted wili consummate the policy in¬ augurated in 1893 when the Indian mints were ciosed to the free coinage of silver, and the Government undertook to issue rupees for gold at the rate of 32c. per rupee, at which rate the rupee value, it is proposed, shall be maintained, This would help to hold current market quotations for silver, but wouîd be likely to cause embarrassment to the Indian treasury if prices for that métal should advance substantially. Of such an advance, how¬ ever, there is now no reasonable expectation, although the strength of the market and the décline of silver production as a direct pursuit rather encourage than discourage the hope of a moderate advance. The rise in the bank rate is the iogical re¬ suit of the circumstances of the times. For a year and a half or more there has been a rate of from 3% to 4% during which time business has been growing at a rapid rate and dearth of borrow- able funds has been experienced at intervais in ail the European monpy centres. In the past six months the new capital issues in l-;,ndon amounted to over $4-'O,00(l.0OO, of -viiich about 25% waa Icaned to foreign governments or for îLidign enterprisee. The British colonies and municipalities aiso figure in the Hst for large amounts. As stated some weeks ago, German state gov¬ ernments and muuicipalities hâve had to make libéral conces¬ sions to obtaln needed funds, and, while it is satisfactory to learn that the response of the public to thèse application& was very generous, it is none the less a fact that money is harder to ob¬ taln for even the best of investments than has been the case for half-a-dozen years. The activity of trade accounts for this, and the largest factor in this activity is the movement of iron and ita necessary accompaniment, coal. The British iron trade has be¬ come reassured regarding American compétition, through the development of an American demand on it for many kinds of steel and iron produets. British iron is, too, flnding its way into Germany, which is aiso drawing upon the iron manufactures of Austria and other countries. There is undoubtedly every pros¬ pect of an exceptionally active trade in this line for a good while yet, the reasons for which do not appear on the surface, but will, most probably, ultimately be found in the extended use of steel for structural purposes, and in the rapid extension of surface and steam raiiroads. THE RE*LTY MARKET. -p HE récent course of the real estate market appears to fore- A. shadow a fitfully active summer season. Many brokers say they are detained in town by promising negotiations. The activ¬ ity in the outskirts of the financial district, though traceable (o the sale of the Custom House, is by no means sporadic. Rumor is persistenly occupied with lower Eroadway, A sensational item of news relating to Sth avenue below 59th street, is ail but ready for publication. A publishing house is figuring on the lease of a 9-story building, 75x100, to be erected in 19fch street, near Sth ave¬ nue, and negotiations looking to the construction of half a dozen new buildings east of Broadway, north of 17th street, are known to be In progress. There is enough large business in sight to justify tlie prédiction of a decidedly more interesting summer than has been seen for some years. This prédiction is made despite heavy émigration to the sea¬ shore and m.ountains on the part of the people who buy real es¬ tate for permanent investment. Time was when publicists re- marked on the absence of a leisure class in New York. That was when the chief field of employment for capital was non-corporate commerce .and manufacture, and when city real estate was not so productive as it is now. To-day the disbursements to the holders of stocks and bonds of political, industrial, and trans- portational corporations exceed the dreams of financiers of a few décades ago. The railways alone pay out annually in interest aud. dividends probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 315 aiî\C- ions of dollars. It would be interesting to know the 'amount oC the rent roll of Manhattan Island. How largeiy j,ianhattan reaf' estate is held for investment is apparent irora the fact that the mortgage indebtedness upon it is Oitlmated to be less than a third of the market value of the asset. During the past year New York's leisure class, composed of people whose income is âe- rived chiefly from real estate and crédit investments, has been materially augmented, the additions from the West being espe¬ cially noteworthy. ^ The loss which the market for realty investments sustains from the summer exodus of this class, the class which absorba a principal share of the community's interest earnings, may, how¬ ever, be compensated to some extent by increased aetirlty on tbe ' part of the professional spéculative 'élément. And this compen¬ sation is evidently forthcoming. The past two or three weeks spéculation has run strongly in the direction of downtown busi¬ ness property, while small investment purehases of flats and ten¬ ements and dwellings show little, if any, sign of diminution At the same time, the great suburban movement, inaugurated when the city was consoIidated, continues unabated, although sales are made at private treaty rather than at public auction. The pur¬ chase by the Manhattan Railway Company, this week, of addî- tional Iand in Bronx, preparatory to an extension of its line to Fordham, calls renewed attention to the widening fîeld of spéc¬ ulation in that borough. It is known that a group of operators has secured control of an undeveloped tract of 150 lots at Bronx Park, which will be put upon the auction stand in the spring Besides, a big syndicale is taking up options on parcels of acre property aggregating several thousand lots. To the outlying set- tlements in Brooklyn the trolleys are bringing. besides home- I