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 argue that family office capital is best positioned to build the housing American communities lack. The summit, now in its 33rd edition, lists Kaufman among its speakers on its published agenda.
Kaufman's appearance follows the release of Citi Wealth's 2026 Global Family Office Report, a survey of roughly 350 family offices across more than 40 countries. The report found that direct real estate accounts for about 10% of the average family office portfolio worldwide, rising to 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. The report also found that 75% of respondents invest directly in companies, and that public equities became the top destination for new capital this year.
Those figures carry weight for how family offices deploy their wealth, particularly in an era of elevated interest rates and persistent housing shortages. Unlike institutional funds that face redemption pressures or fixed investment horizons, family offices often operate with what Kaufman describes as patient capital—a structural advantage when pursuing projects that require long timelines, such as land assembly, entitlement, and construction.
"Family office capital is patient by design, and real estate rewards patience more than almost any other asset," Kaufman 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. "We invest only our own capital, so every project has to stand on its own merit without a fund deadline pushing it," he said. "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."
Kaufman & Company invests only its own capital and does not raise outside funds. 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 implications extend beyond one firm's strategy. If North American family offices follow through on plans to increase real estate allocations, they could become a more significant source of capital for housing development at a time when many communities face chronic shortages of affordable and workforce housing. The Citi report's finding that public equities became the top destination for new capital this year suggests families are balancing liquidity and growth with tangible assets. How they weigh those priorities will shape whether patient capital flows into the built environment or remains on the sidelines.
For Kaufman, the summit is an opportunity to make that case directly to an audience of peers. "The freedom is the real edge," he said, pointing to the ability to wait out entitlement processes and buy land when others are selling. Whether other families adopt that approach could determine how much of the housing gap gets addressed by private, patient capital in the years ahead.
