As vaccination rates in the US continue to increase – however, still below the White House’s goal of administering at least one dose of the vaccine to 70% of the population – and talks about inflation and the increase in commodity prices giving pause to a lot of the participants in our field, we’ve noticed a considerable thaw in the capital markets.
Both balance sheet and securitized lenders are showing an interest in transactions they would simply pass on 6 months ago, while also offering attractive terms. However, new construction activity in New York is still subdued and, we hope, simply a result of the lack of available financing over the past 15 months. As life begins to normalize we are cautiously optimistic that transaction velocity will increase and valuations, along with cash flows, will stabilize.