Nick Pérez has a clear view of South Florida’s condo market, especially the ultra-high-end segment. From September to early December of 2025, his family’s Related Group sold $450 million worth of condos, with more to come. Between October 2025 and this coming March, Related and its partners are completing condo projects totaling 1,500 units, including the Crosby at Miami Worldcenter and Nomad Residences Wynwood.
Pérez is president of the condo division at Related, where he and his brother, CEO Jon Paul Pérez, have been taking on more leadership, though the Miami-based firm is still led by Nick’s father, billionaire developer Jorge Pérez.
“The strength is definitely in the ultra-luxury product,” Nick Pérez said in an interview with The Real Deal.
With partners, the firm is under construction at Six Fisher Island Residences, where buyers are paying an average price per foot of $4,000, high for preconstruction.
But he’s also noticed that at cheaper, short-term-rental-friendly projects, developers are all fighting for the same buyer.
“Take a step down into the more affordable range, or once you’re down in the range of $1,000 to $1,400 per square foot, that market is very saturated,” Pérez said. That range includes Viceroy Residences, where TRD conducted this interview.
Some developers are overleveraged and may fail, Pérez observed. But Related is pushing ahead with projects from Miami to West Palm Beach to Tampa, and holding onto a handful of sites with big plans, including one rumored to be a Ritz-Carlton-branded high-rise development in North Bay Village with Harry Macklowe’s firm.
It’s not 2008, when Related had to hand the keys over to its lenders on four condo projects.
The summer was slow, but an autumn boom emerged, thanks mostly to sales at three luxury waterfront condo projects: $70 million presold at Rivage Bal Harbour, which Related is co-developing with Two Roads Development; $80 million at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, West Palm Beach (with BH Group); and $100 million presold at the St. Regis Residences Miami, with partner Integra Investments.
Baccarat Residences, a 75-story, 355-unit tower that’s under construction in Miami’s Brickell in the same complex as Viceroy, has fewer than 10 units left, Pérez said, though sales launched in 2021.
Here’s what else Nick had to say about the market and the firm’s pipeline.
The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Tell me about 2025.
It was kind of a roller-coaster year. We had a new U.S. president, which the industry was super excited about. There was certainty on where we were going. Then Liberation Day came and the stock market took a tank. That caused a ton of uncertainty, not only in the real estate market, but in investment decisions across private equity, across data, every industry. Because uncertainty kills all investments. You don’t know how to invest without knowing you know what your cost of goods is going to be. Are you going to hire? Are you going to fire? This summer was not a great summer, but come Sept. 1 there was some calm in the market. Interest rates have gone down, which has helped but still not enough.
There’s still a lot of money on the sidelines waiting for further rate cuts.
Is the Mamdani effect [of New Yorkers migrating to Southern Florida] overhyped?
This happens every time. Trump gets elected, some people think the world’s going to end. Or Biden got elected, people think the world’s going to end. Or when Mamdani got elected, New York’s “gone forever.” Developers are talking with Mamdani. There’s always a little bit of overhype because of, again, the uncertainty.
Yes, there’s been more interest, more calls, more web leads, more form fills. But it hasn’t been the rush that everyone has [predicted].
There is so much competition in lower price points. How do you stand out?
Between Miami-Dade and Broward, 144 projects have been announced. The vast majority are [like the Viceroy Residences]. But they don’t have this location that we have [riverfront in Brickell], but it’s that type of unit, size and price point.
Miami has become extremely expensive. We’re selling Icon Beach right now at $1,200, $1,300 [per square] foot in Hollywood. Six years ago, we sold out Hyde Beach House at $670 a foot. Prices have grown astronomically. Wages have not followed, and especially South American wages; and the dollar is strong. So, the purchasing power of South Americans has not kept up with the price appreciation that’s happened in the market.
Are you holding back on launching projects?
We are preparing, going through the design process, and getting all of our marketing material ready on a lot of jobs. Our Aventura multifamily site, we’re going through the design process to get all the materials ready. North Bay Village, we cleared the site, we are going through the design process and getting through the marketing materials. That takes eight to 10 months.
Bird Road, which we bought with 13th Floor Investments, is another one, we think with product type, location, price entry point, young families. That one we’re branding in a unique way, which we’ll get to later next year. But that is going to have an entry point, about $1,200, $1,300 a [square] foot. It’s right by the metro, in between Coconut Grove and Coral Gables.
We are getting all those ready — and watching the market.
Are you expecting a price correction?
Price increases will be difficult. I don’t think there will be a decrease. Immigration is starting to take effect on some labor issues. We haven’t seen it but we’re hearing labor is hard to come by. Construction costs, we haven’t seen them spike a lot but it’s starting to trickle in as we’re pricing new jobs. There’s no way someone can build cheaper in two years than they can today. The only thing that can adjust is owners’ expectations of the value of the land. That’s really hard to change also. You will see some people get in trouble for overpaying and realize how expensive it is to build.
Are you offering incentives to sell condos?
Yes, they’re definitely in the market. A lot of those are not very wide blasted. Once word gets out, then everyone else starts doing it.
Are you looking at picking up stalled project sites?
Not actively. We have enough. Maybe those buyers, if their projects don’t come through, they come to our projects.
I won’t tell you where but we gobbled up a bunch of units in a condo to create a blocking position in case someone comes in. We’re planting seeds for the next big run.
Newly elected Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins campaigned on increasing affordable housing, restoring trust to City Hall and improving permitting issues. What policies or incentives would help create more affordable housing?
Affordability is the biggest issue. People are spending over 50 percent of their income on rent, when the norm used to be 30 percent. It’s not going to change overnight, but that has to change. We have the right mayor that was elected by the city of Miami to try.
Mayor Higgins was instrumental within the county in promoting affordable housing. She was probably one of our biggest cheerleaders. The county has massive amounts of land, so they’re able to do affordable housing by executing 99-year ground leases to the developer. The city of Miami doesn’t have that much land, so I don’t know exactly what she’s going to try to do.