{"id":1004405599,"date":"2020-04-09T02:02:22","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T10:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004405599"},"modified":"2020-04-09T07:18:50","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T15:18:50","slug":"tallying-up-the-difference-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/tallying-up-the-difference-in-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Tallying Up the Difference in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image via Pixabay.com<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

The impacts of the ongoing paradigm-shifting<\/a> COVID-19 pandemic on commercial real estate are coming into sharper focus each day, as struggles mount in different sectors of the economy. Even as the crisis continues to escalate and mid-term outlooks for particularly exposed sectors\u2014especially hospitality\u2014appear increasingly grim, not all news is bad news.<\/p>\n

Following the Fed\u2019s unprecedented mid-March emergency rate cut, borrowing costs dropped overnight to historic lows. Borrowers acted immediately\u2014even in the face of prepayment penalties\u2014moving to refinance existing debt. On the other hand, lenders have begun to pull back from many asset types that had long been seen as safe plays over concerns stemming from pandemic-related delinquency fears. Additional structural issues, including the full or partial closure of many of the country’s recorder offices, have slowed or even stopped real estate transfers and financing in many parts of the country.<\/p>\n

As one of the country\u2019s top gateway markets\u2014and focal points for foreign investment\u2014Manhattan can offer us a glimpse into the mindset of investors and borrowers through the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

The following analysis investigates changes in volume from the week ending March 24, 2019, to the week ending March 22, 2020. Data, all freely available, was retrieved from the City of New York\u2019s finance department and department of buildings. Property sales and loans valued at less than $5 million were excluded from the data set to provide a more compact set.
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