The Real Deal New York

From the January issue: As brokers and developers ring in the New Year, they are predicting even more shifts for New York’s already slowing real estate market. Experts interviewed for The Real Deal’s end-of-the-year Q & A said while they expect the upper echelon to be insulated in the coming year, they are worried about the possibility of an increase in interest rates and market slowdowns in the outer boroughs and other areas that may not be able to absorb the recent glut of new construction. Also among their predictions for the New Year: prices will drop to more realistic levels, investors will evaluate their property choices more closely, overpriced properties will sit on the market, banks will go back to lending off their own balance sheets, and blockbuster commercial deals will get financed by more than one lender as banks minimize their risks. As one residential broker put it: “For a long time the attitude was, ‘Anything I buy in Manhattan will be worth more money tomorrow.’ Now it’s, ‘I hope it will be more money tomorrow.’”