Survey - Interest growing in Cuba real estate opportunities

Survey: Interest growing in Cuba real estate opportunities
BY MOLLY DUFFY
mduffy@MiamiHerald.com

Nationwide, real estate industry leaders are eying investment in Cuba
for the first time in more than 50 years, according to the sixth annual
Akerman U.S. Real Estate Industry Outlook Survey released this week.

The survey of almost 180 U.S. real estate executives indicates they are
slightly more optimistic about investment opportunities in Cuba than in
traditional standouts like Venezuela and Argentina, despite the
remaining restrictions on direct investment in Cuba.

"What people are looking at now is sort of scoping out those
opportunities when those rules change," said Neisen Kasdin, managing
partner of Akerman's Miami office.

Under current U.S. law, an American cannot invest in real estate — or
anything else — in Cuba. But policies issued early this year do allow
potential investors to visit Cuba to explore their options, according to
Augusto Maxwell, chairman of the law firm's Cuba practice.

If the embargo is eventually lifted, Americans will have access to the
Cuban market, though the Cuban government limits the percentage of
investment a foreigner can hold.

That could be good for Miami. Kasdin said he expects the city will
become the conduit for investments flowing into Cuba.

When the survey asked about home-building in the United States, Kasdin
said surprisingly, the responses suggest Latin America will be the
dominant source of foreign capital in the single-family home-building
sector.

"Nationally, foreign capital is having a heavy influence on global
gateway cities," Kasdin said. In places like California, that money is
predominantly Asian, while in South Florida it mostly comes from Latin
America.

Although the survey was conducted nationally, Latin America's ranking as
the dominant source could be skewed by the regional views of the
respondents of the poll.

Latin American capital will also maintain its importance in inbound
equity in the real estate market, with the greatest amount of foreign
investment expected to come from Brazil, followed by Mexico. According
to the survey, Latin American capital is one of the top three inbound
equity sources for commercial real estate in the U.S.

While Latin American investment has been prevalent in Florida for years,
Kasdin said he sees it spreading to other parts of the nation, such as
New York and Texas.

Survey results were derived from phone interviews with 179 real estate
executives from across the United States. Respondents to the Akerman
survey include developers, investors, lenders and owners.

Source: Survey: Interest growing in Cuba real estate opportunities |
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