Condo Capitalism™ is a weekly podcast hosted by Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ that provides data-driven analysis on distressed real estate—foreclosures, shortsales and bank-owned REOs—in the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.
The program tracks the Florida Condo Association Financial Cliff, where rising maintenance fees, special assessments and insurance costs are squeezing cash-strapped owners.
On the show, experts analyze how the national “two-sided risk”—rising inflation and falling employment—magnifies these local pressures, potentially forcing a capitulation by owners who can no longer afford condo living.
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Episode Overview
In the Jan. 15, 2026, episode of the Condo Capitalism™ podcast, host Peter Zalewski interviews Viju Koottungal, the owner of the Dade Real Estate Investors Association (DREIA) who has sold more than 200 single-family homes to Wall Street funds since the Great Recession.
Readers of MiamiCondo.Club are invited to DREIA’s upcoming 2026 Real Estate Mixer at 6:30 pm on Jan. 21, 2026.
During the 70-minute episode, Koottungal revealed that the "smart money" is already several moves ahead of the White House, having spent the last six months quietly fracturing their massive portfolios into smaller, obscure entities to bypass President Donald Trump’s proposed “ban” on institutional home purchases.
Koottungal and Zalewski discussed how some of these institutional funds are effectively front running the proposed restriction while betting on a bullish 2026 despite the political headwinds.
The conversation traces the origins of this corporate takeover to 2010, when funds such as Blackstone initially targeted distressed condo towers before pivoting to a horizontal strategy of rolling up single-family homes when bulk condo deals proved elusive.
The exchange highlights how this accumulation has allowed Wall Street firms to control supply and drive up pricing since 2009, effectively crowding out individual homebuyers.
To illustrate the severity, Zalewski presents data from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released in May 2024.
While institutional investors own a relatively small percentage of homes nationally, the report reveals a staggering concentration in specific Sunbelt cities.
The data indicates that institutional groups control approximately 25% of the single-family rental market in Atlanta, 21% in Jacksonville, 15% in Tampa, 13% in Orlando and 5.0% in Miami.
While the administration argues that banning corporate landlords will unlock inventory, Koottungal contends the true barrier to entry is the skyrocketing cost of development, with construction costs of single-family houses surging from about $130 per square foot to nearly $210 per square foot in the last three years.
