Speaker 1: To discuss this boom in Florida is billionaire real estate
Speaker 1: developer George Perez. George, who's the founder, chairman and CEO
Speaker 1: of the Related Group, has been at the forefront of
Speaker 1: South Florida's evolution for over forty years. And George, let's
Speaker 1: start right there. Let's start with the president elect. It's
Speaker 1: not just the President elect. It's also the red wave
Speaker 1: you're seeing. But certainly when you think about the Winter
Speaker 1: White House over in mar A Lago, how much more
Speaker 1: interest are you now seeing in Florida since the election?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, President Trump is a Florida resident. I
Speaker 2: think a lot of his friends, you know, are in Florida.
Speaker 2: I think he's a real estate was a real estate developer,
Speaker 2: his family still in the real estate development. I think
Speaker 2: he understands what real estate in particular needs to be successful,
Speaker 2: which is lower interest rates, lower inflation rates, so people.
Speaker 3: Feel confident of buying.
Speaker 2: The effect in Miami think is going to be positive,
Speaker 2: but we go way beyond as opposed to other cities
Speaker 2: or the national economy.
Speaker 3: I just came back from London and Madrid and.
Speaker 2: The desire for people to own a place in Miami
Speaker 2: as a second home or actually moved thinking of moving
Speaker 2: when they get to be a retirement age is immense.
Speaker 2: You know, my two sons are in a trip to
Speaker 2: South America, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
Speaker 3: Who are the demand for real estate.
Speaker 2: In South Florida is intense.
Speaker 3: And as we know, and you mentioned in.
Speaker 2: Cities like Chicago and New York, we're seeing we're still
Speaker 2: seeing a huge demand for people not just wanting to
Speaker 2: live here, but moving their businesses here, which is the
Speaker 2: first time that has happened to South Florida. So instead
Speaker 2: of just becoming sun and fun, we are becoming a
Speaker 2: serious city.
Speaker 1: Well more than a serious city. You think the business
Speaker 1: aspect alone, and I'm going to ask you to speak
Speaker 1: for the business community here for a moment. When you
Speaker 1: think about the president elects policies, because some of them
Speaker 1: could significantly impact different industries, even yours. You think about
Speaker 1: the immigration policy, for example, a lot of the building
Speaker 1: environment in the United States has relied on an immigrant workforce.
Speaker 1: How do you think that policy in particular might impact
Speaker 1: your business moving forward and others around you.
Speaker 2: Well, look, it's a big concern, you know, it's a big,
Speaker 2: big concern. You know, in Miami a lot of our
Speaker 2: construction workers are I would say maybe eighty percent of
Speaker 2: our constructional workers are Hispanic or more, and we don't
Speaker 2: check to see if they are legal residents or not.
Speaker 2: They're employed by our subcontractors. But I give you a
Speaker 2: little fast anic thought. In Jacksonville, when the governor announced
Speaker 2: that they were going to be checking on to see
Speaker 2: if you legal, if immigrants were illegal or not. The
Speaker 2: next day we went to the job and everybody had
Speaker 2: disappeared for our construction job in Jacksonville and had gone
Speaker 2: to I don't know if to South Georgia or someplace.
Speaker 2: So we we very much depend on immigration to run
Speaker 2: our industry.
Speaker 3: I think that the stance that some of the more.
Speaker 2: Fervent opponents to immigration is going to quiet down. I mean,
Speaker 2: the United States needs a continuous flow of these immigrants
Speaker 2: to fill a lot of jobs. So do we need
Speaker 2: to do it legally? The answer, of course is yes.
Speaker 2: Do I think that we're going to take all the
Speaker 2: illegal immigrants in the United States that have been here
Speaker 2: for many years doing legal work, productive work? I think
Speaker 2: the answers, of course, know you know that would that
Speaker 2: would make that would make it into a police state
Speaker 2: with people checking identifications. I can see myself, because of
Speaker 2: the name Peres, to be stopped in the street asking
Speaker 2: you for.
Speaker 3: An identification card.
Speaker 2: So I think we need to quiet down, you know,
Speaker 2: this rhetoric and come to a understanding because immigration has
Speaker 2: made this country and will continue to play a big
Speaker 2: role in the development of this country.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I just think it's fascinating George, because of course, at
Speaker 4: the Republican National Convention, the most visible signs that his
Speaker 4: supporters were holding up said mass deportation, and that's been
Speaker 4: a part of his campaign pledge to the American people
Speaker 4: who elected him. On the other hand, I mean, just
Speaker 4: think about how much labor costs would soar if you
Speaker 4: eliminated the what eleven million immigrants who are here illegally.
Speaker 4: It would just be impossible for you to continue to
Speaker 4: conduct business, I imagine.
Speaker 2: So, and most people need to see that, right, we
Speaker 2: have a place and ask, and I can tell you
Speaker 2: that ninety five ninety eight percent of all the people
Speaker 2: that are in the restaurant business and the hotel business,
Speaker 2: the the in the construction business are immigrants.
Speaker 3: I would say that a lot of those might not
Speaker 3: be legal.
Speaker 2: That are coming to this country for the opportunity. I
Speaker 2: just cannot see what would happen. You know, if that
Speaker 2: was stop. First, the salaries would have to be increased
Speaker 2: tremendously because there's not enough to supply, you know, to
Speaker 2: meet it. And then of course it would have repercussions
Speaker 2: on inflation and so forth. So I think when quieter,
Speaker 2: you know, smarter minds get together, I think they're going
Speaker 2: to really understand this. I think the economy is the
Speaker 2: most important thing, and I am hoping, you know.
Speaker 3: Trump is now our present.
Speaker 2: So I think, whether you agree or disagree, we need
Speaker 2: to all gather behind them and try to do what's
Speaker 2: for this country.
Speaker 3: Have for this country.
Speaker 2: We have been in a period that people don't talk
Speaker 2: to each other, you know, extremes have become more popular.
Speaker 2: We need to become much more heading down the middle,
Speaker 2: listen to each others, to each other's ideas, and make
Speaker 2: the best out of.
Speaker 3: A better solution, you know, to do this.
Speaker 2: And I think this goes not only for immigration, and
Speaker 2: goes to health policy, environmental policy, and so forth. We
Speaker 2: go seem to go from extreme to extreme, and I
Speaker 2: am searching for that middle ground.
Speaker 1: George, what about you know, speaking of the different policies
Speaker 1: also trade policy, because it's pretty clear that the right
Speaker 1: part of the Republican Party, the further right you go,
Speaker 1: the more protectionist it gets as well. And are you
Speaker 1: very concerned about what trade policies could look like, particularly
Speaker 1: when it comes to your business and business in Florida.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know a lot of people rely on
Speaker 1: not just foreign workers, but importing material.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 2: See, look you've seen what you know, what happens when
Speaker 2: the supply chain is disrupted, particularly in my business during COVID,
Speaker 2: for example, the the the supply chain was totally busted.
Speaker 3: We couldn't get all the prime.
Speaker 2: Materials that we wanted, and construction costs you know, exploded.
Speaker 2: That has passed on to the consumer. You know, nobody
Speaker 2: builds a building to lose money. So I am very
Speaker 2: much anti isolations. I think in a in a free market,
Speaker 2: in a fair free market, I think that there's some
Speaker 2: things that we can't produce effectively that we need.
Speaker 3: To purchase from abroad.
Speaker 2: And our technology and the things that we do better,
Speaker 2: you know, because we have such an advanced you know, country,
Speaker 2: are the things that we should be concentrated in. And
Speaker 2: that all requires a free chain, a free change of product,
Speaker 2: services and so forth between the most efficient producers of
Speaker 2: whatever it is that you're producing. So, you know, televisions
Speaker 2: today are coming from you know, many different parts today.
Speaker 2: To build the whole television here would be you know,
Speaker 2: impractical and extremely expensive. So you know, things like this,
Speaker 2: I think are you know, everybody knows this, you know,
Speaker 2: so I want sentiment, you know, to take a second
Speaker 2: place to logic and see what we really need, you know,
Speaker 2: to Expand you know, we are in such a position
Speaker 2: both in and all in the United States, but particularly
Speaker 2: in South Florida, that we really are attracting the whole world,
Speaker 2: you know, to come to this. This means growth, This
Speaker 2: means production, this means employment, you know, and we need
Speaker 2: to take advantage of that opportunity, just like we're doing
Speaker 2: in South Florida. Our market in South Florida, we're opening
Speaker 2: more condominiums, both luxury and middle class.
Speaker 3: Than ever before.
Speaker 2: And they're all being consumed and they're being consumed by
Speaker 2: both cities from you know, older cities, both from California
Speaker 2: and the Northeast and from South America. We have a
Speaker 2: huge South American market that wants to come here. And
Speaker 2: now Europeans are starting to show, and we need to
Speaker 2: tell show them that we are a stable economy, that
Speaker 2: we're all going to be and gather for the President
Speaker 2: of the United States that this is one country for all.
Speaker 2: So I hope extremes disappears as much as possible.
Speaker 4: And George, I want to ask about something less contentious,
Speaker 4: although for us, you know, interest rates is usually all
Speaker 4: we talk about.
Speaker 1: It's plenty of content What do you.
Speaker 4: Think about the raids market right now? I mean, the
Speaker 4: Fed was on track to cut raids down to some
Speaker 4: people thought three to three and a half percent, is
Speaker 4: what John Paulson told Shanali a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 4: Now it looks like the market is expecting far less
Speaker 4: aggressive cuts and maybe if these policies are inflationary, they'll
Speaker 4: stop completely next year. How much does the real estate
Speaker 4: industry need those cuts?
Speaker 2: But we need those cuts badly, right, Remember, there's a
Speaker 2: huge number of real estate that has been financed construction
Speaker 2: and permanent at floating rates, and those floating rates of Now,
Speaker 2: if you build a project and you bar at three
Speaker 2: percent and now you're paying eight percent, I don't have
Speaker 2: to tell you what impact that has, particularly if you've overpowered,
Speaker 2: right so there's a lot of people hanging that are
Speaker 2: waiting for, you know, interest rates to go down. I
Speaker 2: think the Fed you know, make the right decision on
Speaker 2: the fifty basis point. I thought we were going to
Speaker 2: get another fifty bases points. I think they're looking very
Speaker 2: closely at inflation. In my opinion, I think inflation has
Speaker 2: being controlled. I expect further cuts.
Speaker 3: Next year.
Speaker 2: I never thought we were going to get three to
Speaker 2: four percent cuts, so I think it's going to be
Speaker 2: it's going to be less pronounced, but I.
Speaker 5: Believe that we will continue to see cuts and will
Speaker 5: continue to see an increase in demand based on people's
Speaker 5: able to afford you know, more.
Speaker 3: Re state because of the interest rate costs.
Speaker 2: But I do not see you know, a two or
Speaker 2: three percent interest rate cut anytime soon.
Speaker 4: Hey George, we got to go because of the clock,
Speaker 4: but I hope next time you're in New York can
Speaker 4: get here in the studio. It's been great talking to you.
Speaker 4: George Perez, there is the CEO of the Related Group.