The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-28

every pHdSc OI IHc ploICooioh'
 Exact figures on the amount of prop erty trading in 1924 will never be known. The nearest rough approxi- nation possible is furnished by probate court records. Taxes on deeds will likely run we'll over S60,000, which means, at conservative guess, $9O, O,00O,- 900 in transactions.
 Few firms. if any. have not surpassed previous high marks in their sales az gregate for the period. This is particu- iarly noteworthy in the annals of Jemi- son. Birmingham Realty, Motion. Smith Schultz -Hode, Meyer and Engel, Nose ley, Henderson and Davis. Leedy, and many others whose foundation dates well back into civic history.
 Expansion Helps.
 Rapid expansion of the district was one of the events leading up to and responsible for the vast amount of trad ing during the year, but perhaps the main cause can be traced to the selling of Birmingham to Birmingham. Pre- vious to January 1, 1923, the develop ment of Birmingham had been merely a ratural evolution. It had attained it's rank without any perceptible promotion or cooperation. And while it's rise had not been altogether unnoticed, the in habitants were at least not overly en- thusiastic regarding its future.
 It is not true that the education of the citizenry upon the future import oi the city did not begin to take effect un' til 1924 It started few months pre- vious to the year and was reflected in q swing upward in property values which has so far shown no signs of abating.
 Three Sections.
 The year in business realty was note worthy in that it developed tremendous activity in three separate sections ad jacent to the center of the business dis trict. These, together with the months when the activity appeared concentrat ed, were:
 1. West of business center. iron First to Fifth avenue, Eighteenth tc Fifteenth street, March-May; August September.
 2. Northeast, from Second to Fiftl avenue, Twenty first to Twenty-sixtl street, April-June; tober-November.
 8. Southside, from Avenue B to Ave nue F. Eighteenth to Twenty-fourtl street, September-OctOber.
 Average High.
 The activity in the first classification was the least ostentatious of the three vet the prices paid for the property already on a high plane, were on th average greater than anywhere else Trading in this section was accelerate' by the new store of Herman Saks a the corner of Second avenue and Eigh teenth street and the leasing of tn Burnett building by the Parisian. Som students of conditions assert that tn blocks to the immediate west are tn future retail sections of Birmingham and from the trading many investor also believe in the neighhorhoOd.
 In the section to the northeast known as the Terminal Station trend transactions were expedited by the lc cation of the largest percentage of neN downtown buildings. Both the Marti office building and the Birmingham Att letic club were situated in blocks praC tically virgin of business houses and 1 was around these that the trading speculative and otherwise, was most i evidence.
 Second Stir.
 DlrectlN lOllOWlnS tHe soutHSluc hCII' | ity, second stir was started in tn region, largely by the Newton Inves ment company, who are said to have number of buildings, besides the hot announced for Twenty-sixth street an Second avenue, brewing.
 Third of the classificatiOns, tn Southside boom. was the most sensi tional the local market has ever knowl It commenced with leak that a synd cate of buyers were investing heavily strategic sites. and brokers, castin wildly about for some tangible reasol developed a series of rumors whicl while on their face appeared ridiculou were greedily swallowed by the trader
 Two concrete developments can
 :lI | . x.,..o1 ,,-L;o, ;rdiootaS tbot Ri