New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-08
Building Loans
Still Available
Through East
Report That Great Lending
institutions Were Out of
Market Declared Untrue:
Money More Plentiful

'Asal NSa CCNR0IGE CnlI taC =
Money More Plentiful
the Eastern building construction in
dustry the fundamental cause Of it ap-
parently does not lie at the doors of
the various lending institutions, &C
cording to the current Dow Service
Daily Building Reports.
Two OF the foremost lenders of the
country, the Metropolitan Life Insur-
ance Company and the City Mortgage
Company, specialists in making loans
on building construction enterprises,
have been included by word-o mouth
explanations of spotty market condi-
tons, among factors having a re-
tardent effect upon building erection
enterprises in New York and vicinity
Citations have been made, by way Of
example that the housing construction
movement has been falling off. Some
thing has happened. apparently, to
check the flow of building material into
the large number of building projects
represented by plan filings in various
city bureaus.a One widely known firm
OF mason material dealers reported that
up to June | the gross sales had been
up to $4,000 Of what the gross sales
were tor the first six months of last
year, but that since June | the gross
sales had dropped off $4,000 by com
parlson. Opposed to this case. how
gross sales in the first six months, as
compared with an identical period last
year, but offset by gain over the SUBJ
sequent period of gross Of $1,000.
These two citations illustrate the un-
evenness of building construction in
the five boroughs and contiguous ter
rltory as we'll as disparity between the
volume Of housing plans filed and the
quantities Of building materials being
sold with which to erect them
Supply Markets Open
In further illustration of the solid
ground that investing builders feel
themselves upon when contemplating
improvements of sites in established
specialized neighborhoods is the fact
that when the Fred F. French Com
pany purchased for clients an East
Fifty-frst Street plot it had two build
ing loan propositions from two sep
aratc interests to carry on the building
operations Immediately.
The fact is that the building invest
ment and building material supply
markets are now so open that those
who heretofore have been doing bust
ness under former so-caled closed sys-
TENS are bewildered. Builders have
complained to material dealers that
under the open market price system
now in vogue they cannot tell where
they are, what with overcompetiton
and d-baiting, and they are often
afraid to proceed as freely as they
were wont TO do when one dealers
price could be accepted, for the most
n % af "a hoio ,,.1-o
general condition of market shopping
by architects has further helped to up
set the bidder and builder, change
that has been responsible, to some ex-
tent at least, for redistribution of
the mason material business.
Loans Still Available
In such state of bewilderment
various reports have found credence
among the over-wary who might be
contemplating construction. Among
such impressions is that which has
been voiced as fact that the great
lending institutions had withdrawn
from the rest of the 1921 habtaton
building market on the ground that the
housing movement here has been over
done. Here are the real facts, how
ever:
The Metropolitan Life Insurance
ket for loans on new dwelling con-
struction projects of the walk-up
type. 1t is still in the market for this
class of loan and, Furthermore, ex-
poets to stay in. For loans on other
than housing projects this company is,
for the immediate present, out of the
market
The City Mortgage Companys 1921
quota has not been reached. General
lending on this class Of building is
now, however, being made at the same
rate as loans were being made earlier
in the year. This decision is not
based upon any effort to shrink fur
Their the price Of building materials,
but rather to sense a fuller interpre-
tation of the economic turn that keen
analysts feel is taking place in bust
ness in particular and building con-
struction as an industry in general at
this time throughout the country.
This company is shaping its present
course entirely upon demand and the
supply of building investment money.
The supply gives evidence Of becoming
more plentiful, judging from the state
ment of Governor Harding of the
Federal Reserve Board. To all of
which, this company adds, it is still
taking care Of its old customers needs.
mere Is nOJnlnS ABOUT tneSe Two
outlines of policy to indicate a general
withdrawal Of building funds from this
or any other market. There is nothing
about the general building material
price situation to indicate that there is
much to be gained by further holding
up building plans. The railroad freight
cuts are not going to be radical, and
neither are the wage rate cuts. Relia-
Bile authorities have been telling the
public that business conditions have
been improving.
The national crops are healthy.