That’s the assessment of Willy Walker, chief executive officer of Walker & Dunlop Inc., a commercial real estate financing firm with a focus on multifamily lending. It won’t be easy, he said, but the work-from-home era has wrecked old assumptions about the need for office space, leaving an unprofitable glut in the market.
Walker offered his assessment of the effort taking shape in New York to create as many as 20,000 new housing units out of vacant offices. The plan envisions a multi-agency group to help developers cut through red tape and calls for rezoning a section of Manhattan known as Midtown South.There’s a delicate balance at play: Few buildings are completely empty, he said, and in many cases tenants are reluctant to give up on their leases.
The run-up in 10-year Treasury yields past 4.3% “in the past two weeks has sort of added insult to injury,” Walker said. “Many owner-operators are trying to figure out what their capital strategy is going forward given what many people are looking at as rates being higher for longer.”