At the end of February, two weeks after President Donald Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Jorge Pérez adopted an uncertain tone. “He was a very good friend of Donald Trump before he dedicated himself to politics. Then we realized that we had very different points of view,” said the billionaire real estate promoter of 75 years a Forbes In a video interview from the headquarters of his firm, Related Group, in Miami. “One of the things that worries us is uncertainty. We are going through a kind of roller coaster.”
Since these rates were announced, new construction permits for housing in the Miami area have collapsed 29%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Total condominium sales and houses attached in Miami and Broward’s neighboring county fell 17% during the last year, reaching 1.3 billion dollars in April, according to the Association of Real Estate Agents of Miami.
For Related, these tariffs had already generated fears that construction costs could increase up to 20% in March. Subsequently, on June 3, Trump doubled the tariffs to steel and 50%aluminum. “Tariffs increase costs and prices cannot always be uploaded to transfer it to customers, because depending on the market position, it is not acceptable,” said Jon Paul Pérez, 40 -year -old son of Jorge and President and Executive Director of Related. “That reduces our profit margins in some of our work.”
Trump’s repression against immigration is another great concern. Approximately one in four construction workers in the United States is immigrant, and Trump’s policies have registered a hard blow to promoters such as Related. “Immigration affects our job costs,” Pérez added. “In Jacksonville, we are building a condominium complex, and Governor Ron Desantis announced that he will take drastic measures against undocumented workers. The next day, half of the workers had gone to Georgia.”
Many of Related Group clients are also Latin American, representing 80% of the signing buyers. “If Latin Americans are afraid to come here or do not want to come because they consider that the attitude is incorrect due to tariffs and immigration, of course it affects our real estate business,” said Pérez.
Immigration is also a personal matter for Pérez. Born in 1949 of Cuban parents in Argentina, his family was exiled in 1959 when the Cuban government nationalized companies after the revolution of Fidel Castro, and finally settled in Colombia. In 1968, at 19, Pérez moved to Miami, where he worked in a pizzeria and sold encyclopedias at home. He obtained a scholarship to attend CW Post College in Long Island, where he graduated in economics before studying urban planning at Michigan University. He then returned to Miami to work as an urban planner specialized in low -income communities and was nationalized American in 1976.
Three years later, he founded Related Group in collaboration with the New York Real Estate billionaire Stephen Ross and his promoter, Related Companies. (Pérez acquired 25% of Ross’s participation in Related Group for a sum not revealed in 2022). In March, he left the position of executive director and ceded the daily management of the business to his children Jon Paul and Nick.
But Pérez, whose current assets are estimated at 2.6 billion dollars, mainly from its 100% participation in Related, as well as its extensive art collection of more than 7,000 works, does not renounce the American dream. Especially his. After all, it has been in this business for more than four decades and claims to have built and managed more than 100,000 units. “We are part of the very fortunate people to which this country has allowed you to earn more money than I ever imagined,” he added.
Yes, labor and material costs will rise, but your company will adapt. “We have always been able to adapt to market changes,” he said, noting that the company has worked to improve its supply chain and construction methods, and that it has only experienced minimal increases in costs due to tariffs.
Until now, the market seems to be giving Pérez reason. “There was a four -week pause in the market where everyone was really worried about rates, and then doubts were dissipated and we are entering June as busy as in January,” said Dina Goldentayer, real estate agent of Douglas Elliman, specialized in ultralight condominiums. On the impact of the increase in labor costs and tariffs, he compared it with the increase in insurance premiums. “Buyers do not leave a house because insurance is expensive. They use it as an advantage in negotiations to get a slightly better offer, but it is not a reason for not buying.”
Pérez also considers that deceleration is something expected and not necessarily driven by presidential policies. “During the last three years we have had a demand that I do not think it is natural,” he said, referring to the period immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic, when a wave of wealthy buyers moved to the area. “People continue to come to Miami. Not at the same rate as the previous exodus, but we continue to have a very strong demand. Our money is in southern Florida, this is where we invest, and I think there will be no better place for the next 10 years.”
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To demonstrate it, highlights the solid sales in some of the most expensive projects in Related, such as Six Fisher Island, a luxurious 10 -story development with 50 units, in addition to the sports port, golf course and beach club; The units start from 15 million dollars. Related has already generated more than 500 million dollars in sales there, and the properties are selling well above the average price of $ 1000 per square foot in the Miami area during the first four months of 2025. “The best projects with good promoters such as Related continue to sell well and get very good prices per square foot,” said Marko Gojanovic, real estate agent of Mr Luxury Group and One Sotheby’s.
Even in the lowest pricing segment, which has been much more affected (the prices of condominiums built three decades ago or more decreased 21% during the last year, compared to an 8% increase in the newest properties, according to the Luxury Real Estate ISG World), Pérez sees a purchase opportunity. After the collapse of a 12 -story condominium building and 40 years old in Surfside, a suburb of Miami, which caused the death of 98 people in 2021, Florida approved a law that requires inspections of Torres de Torres of condominiums of great height at the age of Owners of units in old buildings to put their properties for sale last year to avoid paying greater inspection costs.
Although Related has little interest in old buildings, she is delighted to acquire them at bargain prices and demolish them. In April, he associated with two other companies to buy a condominium building in front of the sea in the suburb of Sunny Isles Beach for 140 million dollars, with plans to tear it down and build a 250 -meter ultralight condominium tower.
Related also has another 10,000 units in project on land already approved for development, with the beginning of the construction planned in the next two and a half years. And Pérez has always been pragmatic: although half of his business comes from the sale to the luxury sector, the other 50% comes from rental apartments and affordable homes. “When rental prices of rentals and condominiums lower, we always have that stable division of affordable homes that generates constant income for the company,” added Nick Pérez, 37, another of Jorge’s children, who directs the Division of Related Group Condominiums.
Even if Miami continues to weaken, he has luxury condominiums and rental apartments not only throughout Florida, but also in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, and further, in Brazil and Mexico. “We believe in the future of southern Florida and this country. The areas where we operate are high growth,” said Pérez. “We are ready to take advantage of the market when we consider it the right time.”
He also knows when to take advantage of his investment. In June, Pérez sold a luxury apartment tower of 259 units, recently finished, in Fort Lauderdale to the Spanish multimillionaire of fast fashion, Amancio Ortega, for 165 million dollars, 28 % less than its initial price, but still one of the largest operations of this type this year. Related planned to sell it after it was completely rented to take advantage of the growing interest of institutional investors in Miami apartment buildings.
Although Pérez is concerned about the country’s course in Trump’s second term, he is much more optimistic about his native state: “From a long -term perspective, I see nothing more than blue skies and clear for southern Florida.”
This article was originally published by Forbes Us.
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