Brian Scott Cohen (pictured top), a senior loan officer with Guaranteed Rate Affinity in the city, told Mortgage Professional America that the New York mortgage market was continuing to advance at a decent clip despite a well-documented supply shortage and high borrowing costs.
A noteworthy trend of recent times, he said, has been the prevalence of all-cash offers, a strategy that’s showing little sign of fading.
“Real estate’s moving. Across all price points, we’re seeing movement, but not a lot of inventory,” he said. “And prices have not come down, so [there are] affordability issues.”
First-time buyers aren’t being dissuaded from taking the plunge into the New York market. “We’re seeing them buy all over,” Cohen said. “In Manhattan, there’s a lot of co-ops, where you kind of get more for your money. We’re seeing some low-priced co-op transactions right now and a lot of activity in the outer boroughs.”
Recent sluggish figures on the mortgage application front have been driven by the affordability crunch caused by high rates, as well as the much-publicized “lock-in effect”, according to MBA chief economist Joel Kan.https://t.co/mzQQpVTeNi
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) June 10, 2024
Some of that buyer cohort are relying on gifted amounts from parents or other family members to help fund their purchase, although first-time buyers are largely a “mix” including people who are able to put their own money forward for the downpayment, Cohen said.
