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Show REVIVAL REPORTED IN I REAL ESTATE MARKET More Buying for Cash Has Developed and Discounts Dis-counts Are Being Taken Advantage Ad-vantage Of. ft UMMER lassitude having disap-peared disap-peared and money apparently more plentiful than formerly, a, revival of activity in the real estato market is generally reported. This condition is emphasized by tho fact that more buying tor cash has developed devel-oped during the past few weeks than has over before been experienced by operators, and the great majority of buyers are no longer looking for "easy terms, but take advantage of cash discounts. dis-counts. A marked increase in inquiries for homes has appeared, although activity is not confined to this character of demand de-mand but h;is extended to vacant property prop-erty investment, notwithstanding the fact that erection of new buildings is under serious restriction. It is also reported that large amounts of money are being deflected from other classes of investment, such as oil and mining stocks, .and is finding its way into real estate. This is based on substantial evidence that real estate values are steadilv advancing and on the belief that the low prices that have prevailed for a long time will never again pre-vail. pre-vail. Demand for Farms. This condition obtains not alone in city property, but extends to farm properties, prop-erties, the general values of which are today 30 per cent higher than they were two years ago. Still higher prices aro predicted for farms aud acreage property, prop-erty, and particularly for improved farms, because of the existing high prices of farm products. Instances are cited where farms of eighty acres, tinder tin-der intensive cultivation, have paid for themselves from products grown during dur-ing tho past year. This fact was emphasized em-phasized during the past week by the sale of a twenty-six-nc.re farm in' Tay-lorsville Tay-lorsville by the Associated Investment company for $577 per acre. 1 There is evidence in the inquiries of the past week that eastern capitalists are looking favorably on Salt Lake as a coming manufacturing center. Ed D. Smith & Sons reported a call for a . manufacturing site from an out-of-town corporation, which expressed a desire to begin building operations as soon as war conditions will permit. Other dealers deal-ers report similar inquiries. Evidence of Interest. Owners of property on the west side of the Jordan river and in the extreme western portion of the city limits are beginning to show evidence of interest in the city beautification scheme recently re-cently outlined by George E. Kessler, city planning expert, and have made tentative propositions of improvements contemplated by them if the general plans suggested by Mr. Kessler are adopted. The property owners on the west side say they will do more than their share of improvement if the city commissioners lend them encouragement, encourage-ment, and will spend considerable . money in bringing desirable locations for residences up to a high standard of attractiveness. The first activity in years on the north bench and in property immediately immedi-ately northwest of town has appeared during the past few weeks, and there is considerable probability that a large number of homes of modest pretention's will be erected in both localities during the winter aud coming spring. The prospect for the real estate business busi-ness was never brighter than at present, pres-ent, according to V. A. Bettilyon, president presi-dent of the Bettilyon Home Builders company, and there is an ever-increasing demand for homes than at any time since the war began. The flotation of the Liberty loan bonds and the sale 'of thrift and war savings stamps have taught people how to save, he says, and thousands, who never before gave a thought to laying aside any portion of the weekly and monthly pay checks, have in this way accumulated considerable consid-erable sums of available monoy. Not All in Bonds. They, have saved money, also, which they have not invested in Liberty loan bonds, says Mr. Bettilyon, and are now looking for good real estate investments invest-ments for their idle money. Many are buying homes and getting away from the landlord proposition. These savings, sav-ings, he declares, also will stimulate home building in the near future. Homes aro reported to be in demand far in excess of the supply, according to many of the prominent dealers. It is the opinion of the FTitsch Loan & Investment company that modest homes, as well as larger residences, .can be bought today at much lower prices than next year. The demand is steadily or the increase and building costs are almost al-most double what they were a few years ago. There is no question, says Mr. Green, in charge of the real estate department of the Fritsch company, that w-hen the reconstruction period comes it will be almost impossible to secure a desirable home, and substantial substan-tial advances will be the order of the day. The shortage of homes has brought the people to a realization of the importance im-portance of owning their own homes, is the expression of D. Carlos, Kimball, president of the Kimball & Kichards company. In connection with city planning plan-ning work, Louis T. Cannon, E. T. Ash-ton Ash-ton and Mr. Kimball made a survey of Salt Lake, and report that they found no slum condition in any part of the city. This, they saj-, is due to the splendid work of the three buikling societies, so-cieties, materially aided by leading contractors con-tractors and real estate men in offering reasonable terms to those who had a desire to own their own homes. There are few cities in the United States, says Mr. Kimball, where property is sold on as low terms as in Salt Lake, offering every wage-earner an opportunity to own his home on terms scarcely higher than a monthly rental. |
