The sun., 1905-09-10
TIE REAL ESTATE MARKET.
EARLY SEPTEMBER TRADING rs
UNUSUALLY ACTIVE.

III
somc New Building schcmes--Innova-
lion for Lower Washington Heights,
Tho normal condition Of tho realty mar
.ot IN September il one Of dulness. This
i 40 characteristic Of the current month
,h.t september has como TO be regarded
=. tho most uninteresting month OF all the
,.sr Householders usually arc on the
Knit for dwellings. apartments and nats,
Id the attention OF brokers is thus tenn
norarily diverted from tho selling Of real
s,,.te. The vacation period, too, takes
.,rh largo numbers out OF town during the
GUNNER months that the orderly routine
:, business Is entirely disarranged and
D,,st be reestablished, Many principals
-. .ti,l beyond the reach Of brokers and
r.ost OF those who can be reached are dis
,,clIned to talk real estate, TO ny moth
,ng OF closing up important transactions.
until they have gathered up the scattersd
threads OF their domestic and financial
,sairs and taken look ahead at the general
buslress situation.
The effect OF all this u felt most Of course,
during the earlier part Of the month and
r,rdcularly during Labor Day week
ir,mlly little business Is done during that
~.sk and that little Of the most unimpor-
,.pt sort. Last weeks market, however.
r.ssoted a market departure from these
timebonored traditions. About 1875 sales
x.re reported in Manhattan and Tho Bronx,
n which practically Is per osnt. affected
r..I estate In the older borough. ordi-
r,rily only about half this business IL
done.
This claim OF a noticeable improve
meut In the market. 1t Is true, requires
oms Qualification. Most Of the dealing
affected fats and tensmsnts, vacant land
In oonsested residential neighborhoods
and antiauated private dwellings to be re-
nhced by multifamily houses. A large pro-
pntion OF this trading was speculative In
character and confined to he professional
element that has been the main factor In
market activity for some time past. 1t
would be mistake, however. to underesti-
mate the amount Of investment purchases
that snters into the current situation
merely because it Is not always easily dis
tngulshable from the other kind; and just
Is serious mistake to undervalus tho
prevailing sort OF trading because it Is
COnlHp) )NplhCo duA NV NohSCihCA "Aeh
expensive property.
Il the activity OF the speculative ele-
ment was without proper economic founda-
ton 1t would represent an exceedingly
unpleasant state OF affairs, for the current
volume Of business is abno rnally large.
For the most part, however, 1t Is oconomi-
cally sound and justified. by the tremen-
say, 90 far as may be judged such pro-
portion of current purchasing as is OF an
Investment nature is prompted by tho
strong position Of housing Of one form or
another. while that which Is purely specu-
Ave is inspired by practically tsa the sane Sa1s
bsssd on the same facts, namely. the un-
precedented growth in population. the
shifting of population due to the constant
encroachment Of business on residential
centers and the demolition OF residence
quarters to make way for the var ious
public or semi-pu bile improvements that
reject the multiform development Of New
York city.
b |. In interesting in this connection to
y nir to q recent estimate Of the growth
| OF population in the fivs boroughs of New
York city since the census OF 1900. These
figures make the present population Of
Manhattan borough 2,l64 4,e0s, an increase
borough, Sos, s,eol, an increase Of 1s5,094;
Brooklyn, 1894 ses, an increase Of 22S,3l6;
Richmond, 77Oi6, an increase Of e,995;
Queens, 24S,499, an increase OF 90 800. These
figures would indicate the population Of
New York city to be 4,205, ,s72, an increase Of
s2s620. This may somewhat overestimate
the facts but even reducing the total by
25 per cent, it still leaves an increase In
population sufficiently large to account
TOR the difficulty found In trying to keep
the supply Of housings up to the demand.
Last weeks business was not confined to
dealing In tenement property. On lower
Fifth avenue the kensington Hotel, at the
sold to a realty corporation, which will
erect fifteen story store, loft and Office
building on the site. Downtown the United
States Express Company added to its site
Of the proposed twenty story building at
Rector street. Trinity place and Green
wlch street by the purchase Of lOS Green
wlch street and the Century Realty Com
ehd Washington streets, near Rector.
John s. .Huyler bought a 50-foot plot ad-
Joining his factory at Irving place and
Eighteenth street and will extend the fac
tory over the new site.
The announcement OF the purchase Of
IN entire block at Convent avenue, 129th
and l30tl streets and st. Nicholas Terrace,
while Of only ordinary Importance in itself,
OF special interest on account Of the fact
nat the buyers intend to improve part Of 1t
WITH ten story apartment house. Up to
soout year ago the popular belief was
that Washington Heights was destined to
snare the high class development that has
req ,een characteristic Of the upper West Side.
II mas all the natural advantages that the
Upper West Side enjoys, and these to
greater degree. One would instantly Sc
ct rct i as the choicest residential section In
tn New York city. Recent happenings,
however indicate for Washington Heights
LOT. somewhat different future from that Of
,slch Salch it gave early promiseA The specu-
Muye buying incidental to the opening OF
we subway. and the nature Of the building,
since Planned for the neighborhood have
Practically. established the character Of
aree portion OF 1t. These buildings are
nearly all OF the conventional five or six
SSory FIAT type. Hardly any private dwell
mss are being built, and the scheme an
aonoed this week for large high grade
s.IIsrment house Of the type familiar on
u,e upper West Side is probably the only
one undertaken 80 far. It viii be interest
ns to watch the developments IN this
particular direction.
Private SaleS.
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