Financing trends for 1997

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 22, 1997 by Jack Houlihan

Regarding the financing of office product,the strengthening rental markets in Westchester County, NY and Fairfield County, CT, in addition to Northern NJ, have enabled us to arrange first mortgages on many office buildings built in the 1980's, with the lenders achieving spreads over treasuries in a range of 2 to 2.5 percent, with the resulting loans-to-value in the 60 to 75 percent range. Even though more risk is involved, the lenders are being more than compensated for this additional risk, and the lack of new construction, in addition to increased absorption and declining vacancy factors, will provide many attractive financing opportunities for lenders in the new year.

We at Houlihan-Parnes Realtors are very active in both of these sectors throughout the tri-state region and expect to be extremely active in the placement of debt on both property types in 1997.