The morning call., 1891-12-30
CITY REAL ESTATE.

During the year 1884, city real estate, ac-
cording to Magee's Circular, was less active
than in 1890, sales showing falling off from
S36,545S47 to S27, 269. $50, say twenty-five
per cent. The falling off was mainly due to
the high prices demanded by holders. Very
few transfers were made in the portion of
the city on Market east of Fourth, and not
many on Van Ness avenue and its i'm
mediate vicinity; holders had keyed up
their prices to the extreme figures of the
boom OF 1885, and buyers held off in conse-
| quence. The reduction in the number OF
! sales in 1891 as compared with 1890 is con-
| spicuOus in fifty vara lots, one hundred vara
! lots, city slips and water lots, and lots
in the choice portions of the Western
| Addition.
The only portion of the city in which lots
| have been active at an advance in price IS
| that portion which lies north of Market
| street, within three or four blocks of that
thnroughfare, from Montgomery to Van
| Ness avenue. Here there is a steady de-
mand for property for business purposes,
! and transactions are limited by the scarcity
| OF available lots. There is evidently ten
| dency in the retail trade to drift north from
Market as far as Suffer. Being the main
thoroughfare Of the city, Market has sub
| stantially monopolized the retail business !;
| but the choice area being limited in extent.
and a considerable portion having been held
off the market by litigation. lots have COM
manded such high prices, both for sale and
| lease, that storekeepers with limited capt.
tai have been looking elsewhere for a loca-
| ton. In the Eastern cities it has been
| found impossible to divert retail trade from
| the great thoroughfares. 1t may. perhaps,
| be different here. Several streets, near
Market, and provided with cable cars-such
as Geary and Post-have hardly been in
vaded as yet by the retail dealer, and lots on
| them can still be bought or buildings leased
at moderate prices.
! 1t is noted that rents. both of residence
| buildings and flats, are lower than they
| were year ago. and Mr.. MaCee ascribes
| the decline TO overbuiding. and predicts a
restoration of rents TO old figures. His
| opinion is at variance with the conclusions
TO which observation of other cities leads.
| That observation demonstrates that this is
one of the dearest. if not the dearest city in
| the United States for a man of moderate
| means to rent home. Flats or houses of
| six rooms and kitchen, which would COM
| mand from $50 TO $40 in Philadelphia or
Boston, are held here at from S35 to $50, and
| III NlibiCC ollCNlo lUl lIUIS' IHdb 10 ulOtO
than the clerk, or the young merchant. or
! professional man, who earns $500 or $4,000
year, can well afford. No prudent per-
| son ought to expend over one-6fth of his in
come for rent If he pays more he will be
cramped somewhere. The era OF high rents
reached its climax in 1So9-90. 1t has been
| followed by curious results. Young mar
ried people with enc or two children, find
ing it hard to pay the rent demanded for
| flats or small houses in a suitable locality,
have largely gone to boarding, and have
! subjected themselves to the discOmforts,
| annoyances and social dangers of boarding
| house life, because they had no other alter
native. They will not long submit to the
| Inconvenience Some day, some one will
! put up, in quarter where lots are cheap
| blocks of plain tiye-rOom houses to rent for
S25 TO $50 a month; they will rent as fast
as they are finished.
House-ownerS say that even at tina pre-
yailing high rents. they get but scanty in
terest on their Investment after they
have paid their taxes, insurance and
street Improvements. Property owners on
Market street, between Fourth and
the bay, declare that they pay three
| months rent in taxes. That, OF course, is
outrageous; but whose fault is it? The late
Grand Jury found that one man-Chris
Buckley-b prOperty-owners in
this city TO the tune of 100000 a year. He
was not the only thief at the work. Scores
of others-possibly less rapacious than the
BuSl-street boss-likewlse plundered the
city; and back of them, rich men, of the
highest respectability. insisted on their
share OF the steal as the price of silence and
| help in the hour of danger. All the money
stolen by these parties came out of property
owners. No matter who paid it in the first
instance. the steal distributed itself over the
whole city, and every lot-owner had indi-
rectly to ray his share. That is why one
| quarter of the rent Of house on Market
street is absorbed by taxes and the leves of
the blackmailers; and the way to reduce
these burthens is to stop the steals. But
here the Supreme Court stands in the way.