Capitalization of Above Market Financing: Condos and Co-ops

Abstract

Prices and characteristics were collected for two similar, adjacent buildings. One building, a co-op, has a master mortgage with a prepayment lock-out, while the other building, a condo, has no master mortgage. They provide a natural experiment to isolate the capitalization of financing terms. The research provides the clearest demonstration to date of the impact of financing terms on sales price. The value of the prepayment lock-out is estimated, using a stochastic simulation, as a function of the level of interest rates, rate of volatility, and time remaining on the lock-out provision. Prices for co-op units are found to fluctuate with the value of the prepayment lock-out. The value of the lock-out is overcapitalized in the price of co-op units. Co-op status reduces the value of apartments by about 9%.