BY SAM CHANDAN

The cost of financing apartment acquisitions and refinancing maturing apartment debt fell to its lowest levels on record in the second quarter.

Nationally, long-term fixed-rate mortgages carried an average interest rate of just 4 percent, down almost 100 basis points from a year earlier. Underwritten loan-to-value ratios were relatively unchanged, but lower debt yields captured lenders’ readiness to push further against every dollar of in-place cash flow.

The contest to acquire and fund properties was captured in lower cap rates as well as lending terms. In New York, assertive investors pushed market-average cap rates lower across the full spectrum of institutional and value-add properties. Including small assets backed by mortgages of $1 million or more, cap rates averaged 5.8 percent in the second quarter. For larger institutional-quality assets, cap rates on sales and refinancing appraisals routinely fell below 5 percent.

To read the full story, click here

BY ADELAIDE POLSINELLI

What’s the bottom line? Where can a deal be made? What takes it? What price can I get if I close quickly? Is there room in the asking price? How low will the seller go?

Buyers of real estate will always ask their broker how they can jockey themselves into the best position to get the best deal for the real estate they are considering buying.

Those with strong cash positions will tout their ability to close without lender financing. Those in need of financing will boast that they can pay a higher price for more time to close. Those with surety of funds to close will insist they can close as soon as the ink on the contract dries, for a price reduction.

How a broker answers these questions is more critical for the seller than how the selected purchaser proceeds. The broker’s response can set the stage for an award-winning performance with the highest possible price, the smoothest negotiations and a memorable grand finale. Or the results could be worse than a dropped curtain in mid-scene.

To read the full column, click here

BY GUS DELAPORTE

Ariel Property Advisors has brokered the sale of five Upper Manhattan properties totaling $5.85 million. The properties include a four-story parking garage in Morningside Heights and a series of vacant lots in East Harlem.

The vacant lots, located at 1840, 1846, 1854-1856 Park Avenue and 61 East 126th Street, sold for $1.35 million in an all-cash transaction, according to Victor Sozio, a broker at Ariel. Mr. Sozio represented both the seller and the buyer, along with colleagues Shimon Shkury and Michael Tortorici.

The seller was a real estate investment firm and the buyer was a real estate development company, though Mr. Sozio declined to name either.

There are no immediate plans for the vacant lots, Mr. Sozio told The Commercial Observer. “It’s a neighborhood play,” he said. “There are no immediate plans now—[the buyer has] other holdings in the area.”

To read the full story click here

BY DANIEL GEIGER

The fashion house Armani is said to be poking around the market for space.

The company bases its Manhattan offices at 111 Eighth Avenue, an office building owned and largely occupied by Google, which has refused to renew tenants in the nearly three-million-square-foot property in order to clear a path there for its own growth.

Armani is looking for 60,000 square feet or more, according to sources, and has looked at buildings in the Meatpacking District, an area not far from its current home that has dramatically gained popularity as both an office and retail neighborhood. One person familiar with the company’s search said it has even kicked around the idea of combining office and retail space in a single location. That source said Armani had considered such a transaction at 450 West 15th Street, a property commonly refered to as the Milk Building, where it would open a retail store on the ground and take office space upstairs.

To read the full story, click here