Family Office Founder Daniel Kaufman Says Election Day Housing Measures Only Matter if Someone Is Ready to Build
As voters in four states decide six statewide housing measures and pending home sales sit at a record low, the Kaufman & Company founder says faster approvals and new financing become homes only when patient capital puts them to work
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LOS ANGELES (Nov. 3, 2026) Daniel Kaufman, founder and CEO of Kaufman & Company, the family office and permanent capital holding company, said the housing measures on today's ballots take aim at real bottlenecks in how homes get approved and financed, but that the homes voters want will depend on capital that is ready to build through a slow market.
Voters in California, Massachusetts, Hawaii and Rhode Island are deciding six statewide housing policy measures on Nov. 3, the most in a single year since 2006, according to Ballotpedia. They include California Proposition 45, which would change environmental review and set agency deadlines for essential projects including housing; Massachusetts Question 7, which would limit the minimum lot size a town can require for a single family home; and bond measures for affordable housing, down payment assistance and the infrastructure new homes need. Florida voters are separately deciding Amendment 3, which would raise the homestead exemption on non school property taxes and needs 60% approval.
The votes come as the for sale market stalls. Pending home sales fell 15.9% from a year earlier in the four weeks ending Oct. 25, the lowest level in Redfin records dating back to 2021, and the median sale price slipped 0.1%, the first annual decline in three years, Redfin reported Oct. 29. The median monthly mortgage payment rose 10.7% to $2,786.
“We don’t take a position on how anyone should vote, and each of these measures is aimed at a real problem,” Kaufman said. “Review deadlines, lot sizes, sewer lines and down payment help all matter. But a faster approval or a new bond only becomes housing when someone is willing to start a project, and right now buyers have stepped back and a lot of capital is waiting.”
“This is the kind of market a family office is built for,” Kaufman said. “We invest our own money and we don’t borrow, so we don’t need this quarter’s buyers to show up before we commit to a site. Once the results are in, we will look at what actually changed, a shorter review, a smaller lot, new money for infrastructure, and go where homes can get built. The real test is how many projects break ground over the next two years.”
Kaufman & Company’s operating companies, including Design Build Affordable, DK Homes, Kaufman Development and LoneStar Kaufman, design, develop and build housing across U.S. markets. LandBriefing, a Kaufman Ventures platform, tracks land and housing fundamentals across those markets. Kaufman & Company invests only its own capital and does not raise outside funds.
About Kaufman & Company
Kaufman & Company (thekaufmanco.com) is a permanent capital holding company founded by Daniel Kaufman and the trade name of Kaufman Family Office LLC and Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting LLC. Its 10 operating companies are Convivium Living, DanReDev, DEK Builds, Design Build Affordable, DK Homes, Forge Development Partners, Kaufman Development, Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting, LoneStar Kaufman and Kaufman Ventures, whose portfolio includes BridgeStar, Meridian, LandBriefing, SpreadSight, FoundCheck and Mr Good Container Homes. Oldivai is an aligned, independently led workforce housing partner. The platform represents more than $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units across more than 25 years of building, lending and investing.
Media Contact
Kaufman & Company
media@kaufmanredev.com
(341) 217-2580
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