The daily gazette., 1877-10-05
CITY REAL ESTArE.
From the N. Y. Sun.

From the N. Y. Sun. D. 1r-s7 .H.
Some of our contemporaries have of
late painted the future of New York real
estate in very rosy colors, but the man
who owns mortgaged property and is
compelled to realize or go under, takes
comparatively very little interest in the
probable prospective value of the proper
ty one, two or three years hence. r.
That real estate, as general thing, is
now very firmly held, and, except in the
case of weak holders, not pressed for sale
at going rates Is universally admitted.
During the past four years enormous
quantl ties of real property have been sold
at foreclosure sales. 1t has mostly gone
into the hands of mortgages, at prices
utterly ruinous to the owner of the fee.
Property so bought pays,i improved, from
ten to twelve per cent. net on the invest
ment. Where unjmproved, and situated
Ia choice locations in the building dis
trict, 1t can even now be sold at a. hand
some profit to speculative builders, who
are again in the market as buyers. I.
The whole area from Sixty-fourth to
Eighty-sixth street, between Madison
and Second avenues, is being rapidly
covered with bricks and mortar, and
presents scene of great activity. capital
lists are buying lots in fhis district from
weak holders at from 33aa to so per cent.
less than they cost six years ago, the
owners having in the mean time lost in
terest and paid taxes. In most cases,
these buyers sell Immediately at con-
siderable advance to speculative builders,
makinga building loan which is paid in
instalments as the building progresses.
Those capitalists, backed by shrewed
lawyers, who have of late turned their at
tention to the matter of buying lots low
for cash and reselllng them with loan,
have found the business more lucrative
| than any other safe mode of investment
or speculation. 1t Is simply way ol
investing money on first bond and NOR
gage at seven per cent, with the addition.
al profit gained on the sale of the lot.
While most of the building now progress
ing in this up-towu district is being done
on building loans, many owners of land in
that locality are taking advantage of the
present low prices of labor and materials t
improve their lots rather than sell them fo
half what they cost. Meantime, though i
Is centrally conceded that real estate whioi
can bs Immediately made available tor prof
table improvement, must rise fr, m th'
ruinous prices established by forec osur
and other forced sales, the rise will be SLOW
aud gradual. A better feeling undoubtedl
prevails all around, aud choice real estate !
more firmly held than at any time durinI
| the last four years. Recent sales of dwell
ing house property In the neighborhood OF
Fifty seventh street, between Lexington
and Fifth avenues, have been made ut YER
satisfactory prices. There ls just at presen
an unusual demand for brown.stons house
in the fashionable districts. New York vii
be very full this winter. We hear of pend
ing negotiations for the purchase of one o
two fine pieces of Fifth Avenue property
All this looks healthy, and gives promise c
immediate activity in the real estate market
AS regards Broadway property, betwee
Canal and Fourteenth streets, most o
which is held by wealthy holders, and 81
much of which stands empty. 1t has suffere,
not only from the general depreciation o
OF real estate all over the city, but likewis
from the permanent loss of the elegant re
tail trade, which gave it value, aud whicl
has followed the uptown movement. Th
short space on Broadway between Seven
teenth and Twenty third streets is, and will
be for the next ten years, the centre of thi
most profitable retail trade in the city
while from Twenty-third street to Thirty
fourth, Broadway even now is alive with
movement. business, anu activity. Broad
way below Fourteenth street Is compare
tively dull after dark above Fourteenth
street 1t is alive with people and ablaze with
light These simple facts, with which al
those who frequent this part of the towI
are familior, of themselves explain the DIFF
ference in value and renal of Broadway
property above and below Union square.
Without respect 10 the future, we may
say that real estate in this city has reached
and passed the lowest point ; that there is 9
more cheerful f. cling 4broad and that prf.
vate sales ofboth unimproved aud imp proved
property can be effscled at hard pan prices.
This we could not say six months ago.