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DAVID SPENCE's lunch calendar is an unusual but accurate indicator of the health of the city's real estate market.
In all of last year, he had such appointments with just two or three lenders interested in financing his real estate company's projects. Recently, though, he has been sitting down to lunch with that many would-be funders every month.
"In the past two to three months, everyone seems to be more willing to do business deals," says Mr. Spence, senior vice president of finance at Paramount Group Inc., which owns 10 office buildings in the city. Three lenders competed to refinance Paramount's tower at 745 Fifth Ave., and Deka-Bank and HSBC won the $180 million contest last month.
Real estate lending is back, roused from its recession-induced hibernation by an improving economy, relatively strong property values and low interest rates. Motivated in part by ultra-low returns on such investments as Treasuries and corporate bonds, banks and insurers are vying to finance property-related projects.
Through the first three quarters, an index of new commercial...