Florida had a relatively affordable real estate business in the past few years. Even though real estate rates are increasing in the USA, Florida’s rates seem to increase faster than others. There are various reasons for this; however, Peter Thies claims that individuals moving from California to Florida could be the cause.
Migrating from California to Florida
According to Peter Thiel, there is a chance that Florida could become the new California because of the increased transition of people from Silicon Valley, California, to various parts of Miami, i.e., Florida. While some people are a little worried, Peter Thiel is downright concerned and believes that if left unchecked, Florida could become like California.
Florida Real Estate Pricing
Peter Thiel, a republican mega-donor and tech billionaire, states that rent and housing prices in Florida are too high. Thiel warned conservatives that increasing the prices of real estate in Florida will make the state more like California than they’d like to admit.
He spoke at the National Conservation Conference scheduled on September 11th and 12th at JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa, owned by Jeffrey Soffer. Thielstated that conservatives should work on lowering real estate prices because it will test whether the state will have a high-growth alternative compared to other states like California.
Miami & Tampa
U.S. News & World Report discovered that Miami and Tampa areas experienced the largest and third-largest yearly experience in home price increments throughout the country. Phenix was second. Another report from the National Association of Realtors stated that Florida had 7 of the top ten metro areas where single-family homes increased in price yearly.
He stated that the fact that Florida’s real estate has melted within the last three years doesn’t mean that conservatives are succeeding at building a better model than other states, i.e., California. Instead, he stated that he was worried that this made it evident that Florida would end up like California.
Thiel has been quite vocal concerning the departure from Silicon Valley to Miami and called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as probably one of the best to offer a real alternative to California. He said that many people were relocating from California to Florida, which could cause Florida to become like California due to high real-estate prices (which most people have already witnessed).
Might Florida Be The New Silicon Valley?
While speaking at the conservative conference, he stated that the temptation could be to state that Florida isn’t California and doesn’t like woke stuff and tech. This could be true, but it doesn’t help Florida get back broad-based growth that isn’t some real-estate racket.
Thiel was an early Facebook investor and a co-founder of Palantir Technologies, Founders Fund, and Paypal. He moved to Miami in 2020 and bought two adjacent homes (waterfront) on the Venetian Islands. He is a republican power player, a conservative, and is worried about how the continuing move will affect real estate prices in Florida.
Since his move, rents and home prices have skyrocketed throughout South Florida, with companies expanding or moving to the region. Even peter Thiel opened an office in Wynwood, Miami, where other companies also launched outposts.
Additionally, people could work from home during the year with no state income tax. The region has become one of the hardest to find affordable housing.
Other Tech Companies
Several tech players in the Bay Area have announced that they’ll be relocating to Florida. For instance, Keith Rabois announced in November 2020 that they’d be moving from San Fransisco to Florida because he claims that San Fransisco is improperly managed and run, making it impossible to stay there.
August also saw a real estate startup called Belong announce its decision to relocate to Miami. They said Miami was less ideological and more pragmatic than the Bay Area. These decisions and many more could indicate the slow but sure transition of Miami residents and businesses to Florida and could even prove Peter Thiel right.
Wrapping Up
People who move from California to Florida view it as the cheaper alternative to pricey California. However, silicon billionaire Peter Thiel warns that Florida may not remain cheap for long. Housing prices are already too high, and there is a chance that they won’t come down soon and could instead keep rising.