The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-29

a TWELVEMONTH or REDUCED
BUlTNG AND BUILDING.

The Contraction % Activity Begun IN
a the spring Of 1000 waa Continued
.ghrOuEh the Present Yenr-The Out
look GOOd for the suburbs at Least.
The main feature Of the real estate mars
ket during the last year has been a pro-
gressive contraction Of activity. ending
in almost complete stagnation after the
October panic. During the first few mopths
of the year the contraction was pronounced
only in the tenement and fiat house dis
Jnots OF Manhattan and The Bronx. At
that time. indeed. professional operators
we're buying land and planning new con-
struCtion work on an ambitious scale In
nearly all the other important sections OF
the, city. The building Of fats and tene-
ments continued in Brooklyn and in Queens.
while one Hnd two family houses were pro-
Jected in large humble in those boroughs
a. well as in The Bronx. In Manhattan.
meanwhile, a huge volume Of capital was
going into business constructions. notably
ONCE buildings. loft buildings. stores n
factories. IL is true that a large part OF
thu work under way in Manhattan had beep
started the year before. at a time when
monetary conditions were less u~nfavorable.
Nevertheless. what with work left over
from the preceding year and q worb
undertaken the building trade last spring
furnished employment for all Of the 100. 600
mechanics and laborers directly dependent
ON this important industry
Even at this period. however. the none
tary outlook was extremely doubtful.
The banks and insurance companies were
DOT supporting the building movement
to any considerable extent. The big build
ing enterprises downtown were able to
proceed because they had been financed
for the most part during the spring OF
1909, some of them. indeed. as FAR back
as 1905. The bulk Of the fresh capital
pledged in the early months Of 1907 was
provided by realty companies and private
lenders. The speculative temper was still
dominant and private lenders we're at
tracted by the high interest rates which
prevailed. Savings bank depositors. among
Others. depleted their accounts in order
to put their money out on second mortgages
yielding. according TO the bonus charged.
anywhere from 10 TO 20 per cent.
In the course Of the summer. however.
practically every source OF mortgage CAPT
tai which had there fore been depended
on began to fail. The consequence was a
sharp curtailment of both building and
dealing. As we AVE seen. the building in
dustry was fully employed during the first
half Of the year. During that time also
there was a considerable amount OF buying,
chiefly in the suburban boroughs. In Man
haitian there were short wed buying and
selling campaigns directed by professional
operators in each of the many former
boom districts. But none met with any
success, failing to enlist support from the
more substantial classes of the public. The
suburban movement was better sustained
and lasted out the first half of the year,
though in gradually diminishing volume.
II was OF course supported by people Of
narrow means. mostly people who were
not directly affected by Developments in
the stock market.
During the summer all branches Of the
realty market were notably quiet. not 30
much perhaps through premonition OF
trouble as through exhaustion of available
capital. Since the October panic buying
has been almost at a standstill. for TO scar
city OF money has now been added the fear
OF industrial depression. Al present no
material change is looked for in the real
estate situation until February. When
fresh supplies Of capital become available
for mortgage bans IL is quite certain that
dealing in improved property will be re-
sumed at least on a moderate scale, for
there il now plenty of investment realty
seeking purchases at substantial reductions
in prices.
This il perhaps all that can be said con-
fdently at present with regard to the future.
There is reason to believe. however. hat
the period which must elapse for the real
estate market to recover it's normal activity
will be comparatively short. This reason IL
found in the circumstance that the mar
ket, taken as a whole. has already expert
enced a year and a half of contraction in
buying and building. coupled with con-
siderable liquidation. The high tide Of
activity and of prices was reached in 1905.
and the ebb tide has been in progress since
the spring Of 1909. This statement 10 fully
borne out by the following schedules, show
ing the number of transfers made and the
amount Of capital invested in new buildings
In the last three years.