What the Midterm Elections Mean for Commercial Real Estate

The dust is still settling from yesterday's midterm elections, which gave the GOP control of both houses of congress for the first time since 2006. While real estate and finance pros wait and see if the results translate to more business-friendly policies, two noteworthy elections in top CRE markets suggest the industry has reason to be pleased with the results.

Florida's gubernatorial race was among the nastiest of the midterm season, with $100M being spent on mudslinging political ads. In the end the incumbent, Republican Rick Scott, narrowly defeated former Governor Charlie Crist as voters signaled satisfaction with the state's economic rebound. Scott has created 651K jobs in the Sunshine State, a fact that combined with the great Miami construction boom—40 condo projects are under construction, with a whopping 92 proposed or waiting approval—helped him receive triple his opponent's number of RE industry donations.

Meanwhile, the New York real estate industry cheered on as a slew of state senate candidates (like Terrence Murphy, Sue Serino and George Amadore) supported by Jobs for New York, a REBNY-backed PAC, won upstate elections, putting the senate under pro-business Republican control. And while Governor Cuomo's reelection victory was less of a landslide then expected, the RE industry will look forward to another term of a pro-CRE Albany. Industry insiders are also breathing a sigh of relief that that a GOP-controlled state senate will likely leave control over NYC issues like rent regulation in the hands of the capital rather than the de Blasio administration.