Daniel Kaufman, founder of the permanent capital holding company Kaufman & Company, will speak at the Global Family Office Investment Summit in Miami on Oct. 15 to 16, where he plans to make the case that family office capital is best positioned to build the housing American communities are short on. His appearance comes weeks after Citi Wealth released its 2026 Global Family Office Report, a survey of roughly 350 family offices in more than 40 countries, which found that direct real estate makes up about 10% of the average family office portfolio worldwide and 13% in North America, the highest of any region. Nearly a third of North American respondents said they plan to increase their real estate holdings, and 75% invest directly in companies, while public equities became the top destination for new capital this year.
For Kaufman, the data points to a structural advantage that family offices have long held but rarely exploit at scale. "Family office capital is patient by design, and real estate rewards patience more than almost any other asset," he said. "The Citi numbers tell me families are not chasing the market; they are owning what they can see and manage. The question I want to put in front of the room in Miami is whether that capital is going where the country needs buildings most, which is housing for the people who work in these communities."
Kaufman said the advantage of a family office is time, not size. Because Kaufman & Company invests only its own capital and does not raise outside funds, every project must stand on its own merit without a fund deadline pushing it. "That freedom is the real edge a family office has. It lets you buy land when others are selling, wait out an entitlement process, and build workforce housing that a fund chasing fees would pass on. I would like to see more families use it that way."
The implications extend beyond one firm's strategy. If even a fraction of the new capital that North American family offices plan to allocate to real estate were directed toward workforce housing, it could help close a persistent supply gap that public programs and institutional funds have struggled to address. Family offices, unlike traditional developers, can hold land through downturns, absorb longer entitlement timelines, and prioritize long-term cash yield over short-term appreciation. That patience is especially valuable in housing, where construction costs, local approvals, and financing cycles often outlast the typical fund life.
Kaufman's platform reflects that approach. On Oct. 3, the company launched BUILD 2030, a strategy that brings its housing, construction, technology and AI infrastructure businesses under one national development platform. Its operating companies include DEK Builds, an integrated design, build, development and investment firm working across mountain resorts, hotels and commercial construction. LandBriefing, a Kaufman Ventures platform, tracks land and housing fundamentals across U.S. markets.
The summit, now in its 33rd edition, lists Kaufman among its speakers on its published agenda. His remarks will arrive as family offices weigh record levels of dry powder against a real estate market still adjusting to higher rates. The Citi report suggests that many are already leaning in, with North America leading the shift toward direct ownership. Whether that capital flows toward workforce housing, as Kaufman advocates, or remains concentrated in trophy assets and public equities could shape the pace of recovery in the segments of the market that need it most.
