The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-05
Recent Phases OF Speculation in
City Land.

The speculation in vacant land uptown
which resulted from the opening of the
subway has presented a number OF in
teresting developments. These show
that new methods are being employed
in realty gambling, The new methods
are more precise and efficient than those
formerly in use They permit e1ploita-
ton Of bigger areas Of land and enable
professional operators to discount val
ues further into the future By giving
spectators a larger control over land
values they serve TO restrict the variety
of practicable constructions. To invest
OTIS they mean a smaller share in the
unearned increment of real estate; to
tenants, higher rents and more limited
choice of dwellings.
Formerly, when an outlying district
was opened for settlement By new trans
portation facilities, the owners Of large
tracts Of land generally marketed their
holdings by public sale The tracts we're
auctioned Off in lots. The bidders we're for
the most part builders and loan opera
tors. The latter bought for the purpose
of reselling TO builders with small capital,
the resale being accompanied by a short
term loan at a high rate OF interest, to
provide the means for the erection Of a
new building.
The lots secured by builders and loan
operators were intended for prompt
improvement. As a rule they passed
through the hands OF but ono or two
middlemen and their exploitation in
volved a comparatively moderate adj
vance OF prices. Private investors
bought either for their own immediate
use or for the sake Of the more or less
distant rise OF prices incident to tho
building up of the neighborhood. The
rise OF land values was a matter largely
Of time. 1t preceded but did not far
outrun, the progress of building i'm
provements.
Since the beginning of the present
boom. however, not a single important
holding Of vacant land has been put up
at auction. The buying and selling,
though unprecedented in volume, has
been conducted wholly by private treaty.
The change ia accounted for by the re-
cent growth Of professionalism in realty
dealing In the last five years several
hundred realty companies have been
Incorporated, numerous syndicates of
operators have been organized and the
army of individual speculatSrs has been
heavily recruited. Speculation in real
estate is less Of an incidental pursuit
followed by men Of means engaged
primarily in other lines Of business than
it was. Il has become a distinct pro-
fession. with a huge volume of capital
at its command.
At the beginning Of the present speou-
lation big tracts Of land were bought up
by certain corporations and syndcates
officers of which are connected with
trust companies, banking houses, title
guarantee companies and life insurance
companies. These favored corpora
tons and syndicates purchased land at
wholesale and resold their purchases in
subdivisions 10 smaller speculative in
terests, which continued the process of
subdivision and resale.
Since the opening Of the subway the
seat Of the speculation uptown has
shifted several times. The centre of
activity has moved in a circle and has
gone over the same ground twice. 1t
began in the Dyckman tract at the
extreme northerly end of Manhattan.
That is, tho heaviest buying was for a
time confined to that district. The CEN
tire Of the speculation afterward shifted
successfully TO The Bronx, TO the upper
Lenox avenue district. and finally 70
Washington Heights which completed
the circuit
The leaders in this activity were the
corporations and syndicates which
traded in large plots A secondary
activity followed, supported by the rank
and file of professionals. Beginning
in the Dyokman tract, it moved to The
Bronx and then 10 the upper Lenox
avenue district, as in the first course.
About a month ago it shifted TO Wash
ington Heights, where it still continues.
The successive migrations Of the CEN
trs Of activity are explained by the fact
that the cheapest land was exploited
first, because Offering the biggest mar
gin of profit, and by the further cir
cumstance that the strong corporations
and syndioates opened the way for the
small operators. 0mitting earlier spo-
radio movements, the speculation began
a month or two before the opening of
tho subway 1t has since continued
uninterruptedly with an intensity and
volume unknown in former booms.
Thousands Of lots have passed out of
their original Ownership. Perhaps
majority have figured in half dozen
transactions in which both sellers and
buyers were professional operators.