From Manhattan to Middle Earth: David Perlman’s Big Move to New Zealand

While we’ve welcomed some new people to the list this year, we also wave “E noho ra–” to David Perlman, a previous Power Finance honoree who just left Thorofare Capital — and the U.S. — for greener pastures. 

Perlman, an industry veteran who spent time at Citigroup, Brickman and Natixis before landing at Thorofare in 2020 and eventually leading its New York office, moved to Auckland, New Zealand, in early April — a week before the stock market went into a tailspin following the announcement of new tariffs. (We now wonder if the market was merely reacting to his absence.)

But Perlman didn’t emigrate for a new role. He moved almost 9,000 miles to pursue a better life for his young family, and, in case inquiring minds want to know: “We didn’t move here because of Trump — it was family considerations that drove the decision,” Perlman told Commercial Observer last week. “Sometimes, you have to take life risks. People take risks for work and follow their job wherever they need to go, but you can also follow your heart and go to the place you want to be, then figure out the job. That’s the approach we’re taking.” 

Perlman spoke with CO via video call and gave us a tour of his new digs and surrounding neighborhood, including a walk down to the local marina and a view of Downtown Auckland — which featured Sky Tower, a 1,076-foot landmark with a 360-degree observation deck. He said he has been doing many video calls from his balcony as “people think I’m pranking them when I say I moved to New Zealand — nobody believes it.” 

As for the most common reaction to his move? “People telling me I have ‘balls of steel,’ ” Perlman said and laughed. “I don’t think that’s true, though. You only regret what you didn’t do on your deathbed, and I did it for my family while we’re young enough to do it.” 

He joins roughly 2 million Aucklanders in his new city, and is one of the latest Americans to move to New Zealand (around 7,200 Americans in total live in Auckland). He’s now acclimatizing to the nuances of his new hometown, where people drive on the wrong side of the road (and sit on the wrong side of the car), there are earthquakes and active volcanoes, the cheese is “different,” and he has new phrases to learn like “sweet as!” plus confusing ones like “yeah nah!” 

Far from Manhattan, he’s also adjusting to new terrain. “The hills are real,” Perlman said, adding that he’s swapped his running shoes for an electric bike to conquer Auckland’s inclines as he learns the lay of the land, because “they don’t make electric feet yet.” 

Some things are familiar, however. Costco opened its first Auckland location in 2022, Ikea is set to open its first store in 2025, and — on the real estate side — Hines opened an office there in 2023. 

Perlman and his wife, Michele, first traveled to New Zealand in 2017 and returned again last year with their two young kids, mulling the thought of potentially raising their family there.  

“We were fortunate that we were approved for the skilled migrant visa, which allows us to get a resident visa on day one, and in two years we qualify for the permanent resident visa,” Perlman said. “It’s something that’s very exciting, and we love the lifestyle here, particularly the quick access to an abundance of natural beauty and outdoor activities on our doorstep. We looked at a lot of surveys of people with families, which universally said that kids have a longer childhood here, there’s less noise and less things to worry about as a parent, it’s a slower pace. But also there’s not as much of the worrying things that you get sometimes in other places.” 

While Perlman is in no big hurry to pick his next role — and is enjoying everything Auckland has to offer — there’s a good chance that role will touch on what he’s known for in New York (and on this list). 

“There are a lot of things that you can take from the U.S. [market] and bring over here, like different ways of structuring debt,” Perlman said. “There’s a lot of interest in private credit in Australia and New Zealand markets, and more and more people are trying to build out those platforms.” 

Then, there’s the multifamily sector, which is known simply as build-to-rent in Auckland. 

“There’s a housing crisis here in New Zealand and Australia. A lot of people own their homes, but there’s a lot of immigration, and the housing hasn’t kept up with immigration — so it’s actually quite hard to find good rental product,” Perlman said. “One of the first true multifamily properties that got launched here was Residio by Kiwi Property Trust [a real estate investment trust that opened last June], which was built on the site of a former U.S. military base.

“I think those are the two things that are very interesting at the moment,” Perlman said, referring to multifamily and private credit. “I’m a perpetual optimist. I’m optimistic that I’ll find what I need to do out here and can add value to New Zealand and to the companies out here. Australia and New Zealand are getting a lot of capital inflows from the broader Asia region, and I think institutional interest from overseas is going to grow. Maybe I’ll still dabble in some stuff in the U.S. as I have a big network out there. But the focus would be to maybe connect U.S. investors with New Zealand investors.” 

New Zealand is very pro-business, with lots of initiatives in place to encourage foreign investment — quite the opposite to what the U.S. is experiencing today.

It’s only been a few weeks since his big move, but when asked what he missed most about New York, Perlman said: “I miss the people, and New York in the spring is the best. Everything comes alive again.”  

New York will miss you too, D.P.!