Monday, July 30, 2007

Looking South

A top real-estate magnate discusses the new property hot spots—and why he’s betting on Mexico.


Web-Exclusive Interview
By Joseph Contreras
Newsweek
Updated: 12:23 p.m. ET May 10, 2007

May 10, 2007 - The slump in the global housing market is changing business around the world. But it’s not all bad news. Just ask Jorge Pérez. The 57-year-old chairman and chief executive of the Related Group, one of the top U.S. condominium and rental-apartment builders, made his estimated $1.8 billion fortune largely in south Florida’s real-estate boom. When that bubble began to burst in 2005, his Miami-based company’s annual revenues fell sharply, from a peak of more than $3.2 billion to $1.4 billion in 2006. So Pérez is now setting his sights south of the border—and across the ocean. He will soon break ground on three luxury hotel-condominium development projects valued at more than $1 billion in the Mexican resort cities of Puer­to Val­lar­ta, Aca­pul­co and Zihuatanejo. NEWSWEEK’s Joseph Contreras asked Pérez for his thoughts on the global housing market. Excerpts:
Click Title for rest of story

No comments: