Peter Thiel is one of the first Facebook investors and a cofounder of PayPal, Founders Fund, and Palantir Technologies. He moved from the Silicon Valley to Miami Beach, Florida in late 2020 and purchased two neighboring oceanfront mansions there for $18 million.
House prices and rental rates across the whole South Florida have grown significantly since that time, as many companies moved to this region or opened offices here. Besides, many employees were able to work remotely from their homes in the Sunshine State with few coronavirus restrictions and a zero income tax. Founders Fund set up an office in Wynwood, a district of Miami that is already home to branches of several IT firms.
Thiel himself was actively encouraging companies to move from the overcrowded and incredibly expensive Silicon Valley to Miami, calling Florida perhaps the best real alternative to California.
In 2022, however, Florida became the state with the least affordable housing nationwide.
Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference on September 11 – 12, Peter Thiel warned the attendees that excessively high real estate prices made Florida more similar to California than one could wish.