Ron DeSantis

Gov. DeSantis has been a real estate power broker, signing a number of laws with huge effects for the development landscape in the state over his nearly two full terms in office. Highlights for the industry include the Live Local Act, which gives developers density and height increases and tax credits, among other breaks, in exchange for building “workforce housing” that fits middle-class budgets. He also put his signature to condo safety legislation born of the Surfside condo collapse, which killed 98 people in 2021. 

Under DeSantis’ leadership, the Florida Legislature has worked to preempt local municipalities with laws that circumvent local control over historic districts and commercially zoned properties. Much of the pro-real estate legislation has been sponsored by Sen. Alexis Calatayud and former State Rep. Vicki Lopez, both South Florida-based lawmakers. In 2025, the governor pushed the legislature to consider eliminating property taxes in Florida, resulting in a series of proposals that reduce or cut such levies. The industry has largely rallied behind the governor, but he has been criticized for his support of legislation that restricts real estate purchases by buyers from specific “countries of concern,” including China, as well as a very public feud with the Walt Disney Company. 

DeSantis is term-limited in January 2027. He flopped in a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 as a failed challenger to his one-time political patron President Donald Trump. He has offered no firm indicator of future political plans at this point.

— Katherine Kallergis