Miami real estate depends upon cultivating a talented workforce: Zell

The key to a strong real estate market in Miami going forward is not predicated on sifting through foreclosures or limiting over development, but instead, it is dependent on creating a well-educated, highly skilled workforce, Equity Group Chairman Sam Zell said as the keynote speaker at the University of Miami’s Real Estate Impact Conference, the Miami Herald reported.

“[Real estate] is all about what is the demand, and the question for a real estate developer is how do you align the answer to your activities,” Zell said. “It’s a lot easier to fill pre-existing demand than to try to create it.”

Businesses will demand Miami property if there is a talented work force who can fill the information technology positions that represent the future of the American economy, Zell said. Though Miami will always have some success as a service provider to Latin America, Zell said commercial development would be spurred by a talented workforce, which in turn, will demand housing. [Miami Herald]