Focus Of NYC Commercial Real Estate Market Shifting From "Bricks & Mortar" To Buying/Selling Secured Paper? More Lenders Look To Dump Mortgage Loans

In New York City, The New York Times recently ran a story on a reported "shift in the commercial real estate market, away from brick-and-mortar properties and toward the buying and selling of debt."

• [M]any lenders are looking to offload [their problem mortgage] loans because they need to cash out quickly, or because they are not in the business of selling real estate and lack the necessary resources and expertise. This means that commercial brokers, who regularly negotiated the acquisition and sale of properties, are now marketing mortgages and other loans.

• “I am being inundated with calls from banks who want to sell their loans,” said David Schechtman, a senior director at the commercial brokerage firm Eastern Consolidated. “In just the last few weeks, I have also collected a list of about 30 clients — primarily high-net-worth individuals, long-established real estate families and small opportunity funds — who want to buy up these loans.”

For more, see Loans on Distressed Properties Become a Burden and an Opportunity.

In related stories, see

• Crain's New York Business: Hundreds of NY properties in danger of failure (With 32 New York metro area commercial properties already in distress and another 236 troubled, investors will soon be able to capitalize on falling prices),
• New York Times: Downturn Ends Building Boom in New York.