The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-27
TIE REAL ESTATE MARKET
FEYTATE HOUSE M lying ON YHE
WEST SIDE.

DIV eilinEs west Of the Park Are C:rswl
IN Demand. being More ENtcnsiN ely
Dealt I'm Just Now Than similar Resi-
denccs On the BiEh Priced East side.
The chief feature Of interest in the Manhat-
tan realty market Just now ia a growing de-
mand for private {. 'cllings on the West
Side. The dealing in private houses has
undergone o series Of remarkable and I'M
expected changes in the last half a dozen
years. Six years ago builders were still
active in putting no high grade individual
residences on the West Side. particularly
m the Riverside Drive neighbOrhood north
Of iOOth street. The houses that were then
erected failed to attract ready buyers.
Most Of them remained unsoId for a con-
siderable period and were eventually dis
posed Of at reduced prices. In several
instances builders Of experience and estab-
lished regulations were ruined by the sudden
failure Of the market for West Side dwell
ings.
Purchasers Of private housee for tho
first time declined to buy except in a single
~peighborhood, the Fifth avenue district.
Heretofore the West Side, though second
m rank 10 the Fifth avenu district, had
boon supposed to be firmly established
a. a fashionable private house neighbor-
hood, Nevertheless. il was abandoned
practically without warning by people OF
wealth in search of high grade individual
residences.
The loss of favor with this class OF buyers
was generally accounted for on the theory
that the extensive building Of apartment
houses which was then in progress on the
West Side was multiplying the '~tenantry
there on a large scale and destroying tbs
atmosphere Of eSclusiveness which fashion
able private house owners require.
For two or three years the demand for
high grade dwellings was limited to the
Fifth avenu section, including Murray
Hill. Expensive houses were erected in
large numbers between Forty-seventh and
Ninety-irst streets and Fifth and Madison
avenues They were sold frequently from
the plans, bringing prices 0ut of all pro-
portion to what houses 81 similar con
striction could I've bought for west OF the
park. r
The activity in the Fifth avenue district
fell of rapidly after the Wall Street panic
Of 1907 The demand since then has been
principally for less expensive houses and
has gradually extended eastward TO Lexing-
ton and even to Third avenue. Until
this fall it was practically confined to the
Fast Side.
In the last two or three weeks, however,
more private dwellings have been sold on
the West Side than on the East Side. As
there has been virtually no private house
building west OF the Park for about six
years the dwellings that are now finding
buyers there are more or less ~antiquated
They are, however, Of later construction
than those offered for sale on the East
Side. The latter have, as a rule, to be COM
pletely ~remodelled, a circumstances which,
taken in connection with the great rise in
values on the East Side, makes their cost
far more than West Side dwellings.
The difference of cost is no doubt a factor
In persuading private house buyers to re-
turn to the West Side. But the chief factor
is evidently a change Of sentiment on the
part Of people Of wealth in reference to the
subject Of town houses. The custom Is
growing among the well TO do Of living on
country estates and spending only a few
months each year IN the city. The neces-
sity for ~commodious town houses in a pre-
eninentfy fashionable quarter is apparently
disappearing, with the result that pur-
chasers of dwellings, in the city are once
more at liberty to give due consideration
To questions of economy and accessibility.
In any event, the claims OF the West Side
on the score OF economy and accessibility
are far stronger than those OF the East
Side, and, whatever the cause, il ia evident
that they are just now receiving considera-
tiOn