RECORD BOOM IN CANADA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1127, 31 July 1913, Page 4

RECORD BOOM IN CANADA.

GREAT FORTUNES MADE BY BAND OPERATORS.

Montreal, May 31. A block of land in Edmonton, Alberta, changed hands a few days a f?° l° r ,£100,000; twenty-one years ago the same block was sold for ,£s. These figures tell the story of a Canadian real estate boom without a parallel on the American Continent, and probably without an equal anywhere. There is scarcely a clerk, shopkeeper. or wage-earner of any kind who has not feverishly invested his savings in a piece of land, hoping ior a quick “turnover.” It is estimated that in Winnipeg alone there are dozens of men who have made fortunes owing simply to the enormous rise in values due to the boom.

One man bought a lot in Winnipeg tor £2OO a few years ago ; last summer he sold it for ,£I,OOO. Real estate values in Montreal have soared to a remarkable extent. All the available farm land in the neighbourhood of the city has been bought up and subdivided into lots on which, at some remote period, probably, houses may be built. A sign-board here and there indicates where a teal estate speculator has decreed that a street shall run. The only building on the land is a cabin occupied by a salesman equipped with blue-prints and a box of cigars, which he generously hands to possible purchasers. In some cases the land is miles from the city proper, and without transportation facilities or any kind. But speculation is driving its price higher and higher week by week. Here are some instances of the great profit made in laud in the Montreal business section. At the corner of St. Catherine and Peel streets is a property which was sold six ago for £96,000. Since then it has changed hands four times. On the last oo'tisiou the sale price was £*--J) ouo. A rise in value was that of a little property on Bleury street. Some varnish dealers bought it in 1910 for ,£1,510 ; two years later they sold it for ,£12,000. There is at least one authentic instance of a profit of £IOO,OOO having been made within three years on an original investment of £40,000. The edge is now off the boom, although prices in the business sections of the cities will probably rise still higher. Just now the real estate salesmen are not finding that keenness to buy which prevailed a few months ago. The banks have no money to lend on real estate speculations, while speculators are offering 10 and 12 per cent, for the necessary funds with which to carry on their operations. British investors will therefore do well to proceed with caution. The man who “comes in” on top prices may find himself in possession of land which will bring in no return for years to come. It is not likely, however, that the end of the boom will be followed by continued business depressi®n. The increase in immigration year by year and the steady growth in population will largely counteract any tendency to a slump.