Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 76, no. 1949: July 22, 1905

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July 22, 1905 RKCORD AND GUTDE ^ ESTMOSHTO^ ^i^H 2P^ 1898, Basnfess wto Themes Of GtiJER^liKTEBps7.j PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Tnblisfied eVerg Saturdag Communications should db addreBBSd to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. New York Telephone. Cortlandt 3157 "Entered at the Post Office al ITeio York, if. T.. aa second-class matter." Copyright by the Real Estate Record and Builders' Golde Company. V (jl. i_:.VAVl. JULY 22, 1905. No. 1949. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. (Advertising Section.) Page. Page. Cement .............. xxv Law ................. vlii Clay Products .......... sxlv Machinery ............ v Contractors and B lilders. vi Metal Work ........... xxii Fireproofing .......... ii Stone ................ sxlil Granite .............. xlv Quick Job Directory. .., xxvii Heating .............. ts Heal Estate ........... xli Iron and Slecl.......... xviii Wood Products ........ xxvi I'T certainly looks aa if tbe Stock Market tMs summer was aceiimulatiag eEough ammunition for a considerable move¬ ment towards higher prices. The new facts affecting stock values as tbey come out week after week, all look in that direction. One railroad after another Increases its rate of dis¬ tribution to its stockholders- The weekly crop reports tell a atory of excellent results and still better promises. There are indications that tbe Itill in the iron trade Is over and that the demand is overtaking tbe enormous rate of current produc- lion. There are very few flaws in the general business sltua- jA^on,. ,.If, consequently, prices do not go up, it will be because tbey are already too high; and it would be difiBcuit to prove that such is the case. Certain of the best railroad stocks are, indeed, selling at figures wbich net a very low return to their owners; and large as are the traffic returns of .these roads, they are not large eno'ugh to justify bigger dividends under ' anything like prevailing conditions. But a dozen stocks of this kind could he named in which there is room for a ten point rise; while the prices of tbe preferred shares of a number of different industrial companies sbould be good for an equal if not a greater appreciation in value. Tbese preferred shares will sell on almost a five per cent, basis, as soon as it is as¬ sured that they will continue to pay their full seven per cent, Sividends. Thus, while there may not be room for anything like the increase in prices that there was in July, 1904, it should be possible to effect substantial advances in many stocks without necessarily incurring the penalty of a dangerous re¬ action. 'T^HB real estate market has at last settled down to a state ■^ of midsummer calm. The number of transactionfl re¬ ported is extremely small and their importance is smaller still. Nine out of every ten consist of flats and tenements, in which a certain amount of trading is always taking place; but the market is exhibiting no new tendencies. The demand for vacant lots remains meagre; and no Indication is being af¬ forded of the form which the activity will take place in the fall. In the meantime brokers are beginning to be very busy with the fall renting, and upon the results of this business the building operations of the coming season will largely depend. It is understood that renting conditions continue to be very satisfactory all over the city, and in all kinds of property. It is possible for landlords to increase rents still further in many instances; and there are no indications of over-building in any important kind of improvement This fact assures an¬ other year of wholesome activity in 'New York real estate. The pace will probably be a little more moderate than It has been during the past season, because there will not be the same excuse for speculation in vacant land; but a diminution in the amount of speculation in unimproved property com¬ pared to the amount of building and investment operations will be a benefit rather than a drawback to the market. T^llB approval ot the plana for new rapid transit routes by ■*■ the Board of Estimate and Apportionment has passed almost unnoticed, but it is none the less a convincing indica¬ tion of the desirability of the recent law, which took this busi¬ ness entirely out of tbe hands of the Board of Aldermen. Tbe Aldermen would have consumed several months in approving routes, which the Board of Estimate confirmed in a few days. They would have tried to Justify their authority by Insisting on certain changes in the proposed plans, and, if their action up to date is any guide, these changes would have been all to tbe bad. The Board of Estimate, on the other hand, knows that the routes established are the result of years of considera¬ tion by experts and that every detail of the plans haa been submitted to rigid scrutiny both by interested and disinter¬ ested people.' It is generally agreed that the Rapid Transit Commission has laid out a group of subways which will ctiinu- late competition among bidders and provide the city with im¬ proved means of travel along tbe most necessary lines. The time for consideration and discussion is over. The thing most to be desired at present is vigorous action, so that the city may reap the advantage of the new subways at the earliest possible moment. At best the legal preliminaries to the letting of a subway contract consume a long time, and are sufficiently precarious, and everything should be done to diminish them. The prompt action of the Board of Estimate gives the public some assurance that if there is any delay hereafter it will be a delay which is unavoidable. Tenements and Dwellings in the Bronx. T^HE Record and Guide has frequently commented on the ■■■ fact that practically the only classes of buildings erected in the B^ronx at the present time are tenement houses and frame dwellings. Tbe local industries of the Bronx are not developing to any considerable extent. Very few factories are being erected and about the only business undertakings for which house-room Is being provided are enterprises which are necessitated by tbe increasing population—such as small retail shops, places of amusement, storage warehouses and power houses. Tbe population of the Bronx finds employment in Manhattan offices and workshops, even more than does tbat of Brooklyn, and probably nineteen-twentieths of this popu¬ lation is being housed in tenements. Five-sixths of all the money spent for new Bronx building goes into tenement houses, and a large part of the rest into frame dwellings. The number of brick dwellings now under construction will not house more than 1,000 people. It is no wonder under these circumstances that brokers and operators who are interested in Bronx real estate are beginning to wonder whether some¬ thing cannot be done to make the character of Bronx build¬ ing more interesting and more various. Some five hundred real estate brokers and business men have received letters from the North Side Board of Trade asking them to express some opinion as to the best kind of building which in their opinion Lhe Bronx can hope to get, and it is stated that a very general sentiment exists in favor of more one or two-family private dwellings. The question is, however, not what people would like, but what is demanded by prevailing economic conditions; and it seems to the Record and Guide that, although there is room for a somewhat larger supply of one and two-family dwellings, the price of Bronx land and the character of the Bronx population will during the next flve years demand an overwhelming predominance of tenement-house construction. In a city like New York poor people are bound to live in tenements; ana the increasing population of the Bronx is de¬ rived largely from the poor. The Bronx is now getting a very large part of the overflow from Manhattan, and this overflow consists of immigrants wbo cannot afford to pay more than the lowest prevailing rents. These rents are, indeed, high enough, amounting as they do to from $3.75 to $5 per room; but they constitute the cheapest living accommodations which the poor man can find, and he must necessarily use them. Ai the present time tbe class of tenement houses in which rents are lowest are well filled, whereas brokers are agreed that the. higher priced fiats have been over-^built and contain a good many vacancies. People of this class will continue to con¬ stitute by far the largest fraction of the Increasing population of the Bronx, and they will never be able to live in anything but tenements. By herding together and taking boarders, they are able to pay rents which are demanded; and they could uot In any conceivable manner manage to pay for accommoda¬ tions in one or two-family private dwellings. Of course a certain proportion of the new Bronx residents consists of people wbo are able to afford a rental of $400 a year or more; and in other cities these people nearly always occupy detached dwellings. But in New York such is not the case. An Inhabitant of Manhattan must be prepared to pay a rental of $1,200 a year, in case he wants a house for his own exclusive use; aud there are very few houses, which can l>e had as cheap as that. A Bronx inhabitant can obtain a pri¬ vate bouse or half a private house for a good deal less than $1,200 a year, but he is obliged to pay so much more than is the case in other large cities that the numljer of people who ^