Dwellings & Dollars

Topheavy with leases, United Cigar Stores flopped into bankruptcy (TIME, Sept. 5). David Albert Schulte a few weeks ago hinted that his chain of cigar stores would do the same thing unless landlords showed leniency. To the U. S. citizen, distinguished from the U. S. corporation, bankruptcy is not an acceptable way of cancelling a contract. During the year many a lease-saddled citizen has gone to his landlord, obtained a reduction. Others have anxiously awaited the lease's expiration, ready to haggle for a lower price or to move. Oct. 1, traditional moving day in a score of cities, will see many a van load of chattels rumbling through the streets.

In New York City, Oct. 1, is strongly fixed as moving day. Hauling rates this year were $9.50 an hour (four men) against $14 on Oct. 1, 1931. Most movers in the apartment house district are merely moving to smaller, cheaper apartments. In only a few cases, mostly in outlying districts, were movers moving in with kith & kin to share expenses. Notable was a large exodus from darkskinned Harlem.

The result of 1932's dwelling trend in Manhattan has been an increase in vacant large apartments, a sharp decrease in their cost. There has also been an unusually big spread between quoted prices and what landlords will really accept. One reason for this is the unwillingness of landlords to let tenants know prices have come down in their buildings. Asked prices for the average two-to six-room apartment in Manhattan are down from 10% to 40% from 1929, and further 10% to 15% reductions have been obtainable. Reductions in asked prices since 1929 include the following typical examples: one room in Fred F. French's Tudor City, $55 against $75; seven rooms and three baths on 86th Street just off Fifth Avenue, $225 against $342; four rooms in Jackson Heights (big suburban development 20 min. from Manhattan) , $80 against $95. At Park Avenue and 47th Street, ten-room apartments have been offered at $500. In the upper 80's near Park Avenue, six rooms are generally available at $150, four at $125. A five-room duplex in the smart Gracie Square section was offered at $166. In most cases the landlords have been unwilling to accept more than a one-year lease at low prices, feeling an upturn is certain. Usually an option at a higher price is given for the second year. But unlike landlords in other cities, Manhattan owners thus far have insisted on leases, have made few month-to-month arrangements. Because the average apartment house in the city is not much better than 85% rented, many a renter planned to wait until after Oct. 1, confident of being able to hammer out a bargain.

In Chicago, apartments are about 22 1/2% lower than in 1929. But many smart buildings are almost filled, their apartments renting at better prices than corresponding Manhattan ones. In Chicago's swank Lake Shore Drive district a six-room apartment in the building where lives Samuel Insull Jr. (who has rented three-fourths of his duplex) was recently rented for $300, while a four-room one in the building called "home" by Auburn's Errett Lobban Cord costs $200 against the former price of $300. In the cheaper apartments of from $50 to $80 a month there is only a 7% vacancy. The white-collar Lawndale district has vacancies of 5% against 16% in the cheaper '"Canal" section. Owned residences (31% of Chicagoans own their homes) are 7% vacant. A notable 1932 trend: families unable to place their children in private schools as they used to do have moved to the country rather than send their children to Chicago's institutions.

In all other cities rents have been going lower, vacancies increasing:

In Detroit an unusual situation exists in that there is a higher percentage of vacancies among cheap apartments than expensive ones. City rentals are down about 50% from 1929. Homes which cost $35,000 a few years ago can be rented for $100 a month.

In Washington, D. C., there are more apartment dwellers per capita than in any other city. Rents dropped 8 1/3% when Government wages were cut to that extent. Landlords are installing electrical refrigeration in place of giving a rent cut and few leases are being demanded. Vacancies run at 27%, big apartments go begging.

In Philadelphia there is no moving day. "Own-your-own-home" building & loan associations have thrived for 75 years, there is very little home-renting. Those that are rented are about 15% cheaper than two years ago, with better class apartments 20% lower. Only 5.2% of the homes in the city are vacant, against 12% in the suburbs. If all the 26,000 families that lived with other families went off to live alone, 2,400 houses would have to be erected in a hurry.

A survey of real estate is being made in Cleveland in order to determine the city's exact needs, prevent an unjustified boom in the case of an upturn. But before there can be a boom the 24% vacancy in apartments will have to be filled.

In Dallas many apartment dwellers have moved into the homes of friends and relatives. Vacancies in expensive apartments ($90 to $125) run as high as 40% despite rent reductions equally as big. Work continues on the city's big suburban development. Highland Park West, despite the fact that its backer, Hugh Prather, sold his $125,000 home and moved in with his partner & brother, Phil Prather.

There are few penthouses in hilly San Francisco, perhaps because of the excellent view obtained from the average apartment. One of the penthouses is renting at $300 against $450. and another has been leased to a speakeasy. Realtors fear the proposed trans-Bay bridges may increase commuting. Dwellings are 32% vacant in San Francisco. Rentals in the cheaper districts north of Market Street ("The Slot") run about $25 for a two-room apartment, a 10% reduction. Similar reductions prevail in the wooden, stucco-faced buildings on the Marina, where stood the be jeweled buildings of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915). In the residential section rents are off about 20%. Hotel suites (for permanent guests) are down one-third.

In Los Angeles, once the greenest of all realty pastures, vacancies in apartments last June were 50%. Three out of five apartments costing over $100 a month were empty. Apartments under $25 a month are 23% empty, with a better demand for the in-between prices. About half the house dwellers have refused to sign leases. Much doubling up is still going on, especially among Hollywood girls.

In Atlanta over 22% of all dwellings have "to lease" signs out, with rentals down 34%. Many residents of the smart Peachtree section have rented their homes for as little as $125 or $175, moved into $80 apartments.

One-fourth of the apartments in Seattle are empty with rents down 25% from last year.

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