2012: We were pleasantly surprised by the continuing strength and sustainability in the capital markets. Liquidity is back! Transactional volume has increased: buyers, sellers and lenders are dealing. The refinance market is active due to several factors: (1) Historically low rates (compression in credit spreads and low indices), (2) More proceeds, LTV’s at 75-80% are available on stable assets. (3) Recovering fundamentals, (4) Lenders re-entering the market creating competition and a more diverse lending base. They are competing in a multitude of dimensions: rate, leverage, creative structuring and are expanding the strike zone into secondary markets and product types. Sense of urgency: there is a perception that rates will not stay low “forever”. Equity: Lots of "sitting on the sidelines" capital finally got back into the game.
Product Types - Lots of activity in the big 4 product types with hospitality financing making a strong comeback. Some innovative lenders are originating facilities on pools of rental SFR homes AKA Horizontal Apartments. Lender Types- Banks are increasing providing more types of financing including mini-perms as construction is slowly coming back (mostly for multifamily). Financing Types: Fixed rate perms dominated. We saw an uptick in institutional equity transactions.
Litigation Support: 2012 was a big year for litigation support assignments as GSP Partners Gary Tenzer and David Rifkind assumed a record number of cases. Litigation figures are not included in the company production totals tabulated below.
2013 started strong from 2012 rollover: We have already have closed over $150,000,000 in January, with over $500,000,000 being placed into application. Our production team grew by 12 professionals last year with a new originator joining our ranks later this month. We look forward to seeing you in 2013. David R. Pascale, Jr. & Gary E. Mozer
