Singapore-based Real Estate Asset Ledger (REAL) is set to launch its real estate investment platform in November. Built on Ethereum, the platform aims to provide investors with greater access to global real estate investment opportunity, lower barriers to entry and increase market liquidity.
“REAL is a crowdfunding platform where anyone can benefit from global real estate investments without the usual complications associated such as excessive bureaucracy, lack of trust and lack of liquidity,” Enrique Dubois, co-founder and CEO of Real Estate Asset Ledger Pte. Ltd. told CoinJournal.
Using blockchain technology, Dubois said the platform intends to “take [the crowdfunding] concept to the next level by facilitating liquidity, transparency and global access.”
Crowdfunding for real estate is one of the hottest crowdfunding categories. The sector had grown from US$19 million in 2012 to an estimated US$3.5 billion in 2016. Some expect the sector to represent more than US$300 billion by 2025.
“[My partner and I have] always been enthusiasts of real estate, and as technology entrepreneurs, we wanted to facilitate real estate investments at a global level,” Dubois said.
His partner Bernardo Hernández is a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Hernández co-founded idealista.com, the biggest real estate portal in Spain, and held senior marketing and product positions at Google.
The REAL platform will bring together property owners and potential investors, reducing friction in the real estate investment process. REAL will use blockchain technology to offer liquidity and transparency.
“Every step of our activity, from property buying with third party value appraisals, to adding into the system, renting and selling, will be recorded on the blockchain so everyone will be able to audit and verify the information,” Dubois explained. “Also by accepting cryptocurrency our users won’t be dealing with banks and that will be a superior user experience.”
Users on the platform will be able to invest in listed properties using the company’s cryptocurrency, REAL tokens, and gain profit rights (rental income and value appreciation) awarded by a smart contract and paid with ether (ETH), the cryptocurrency native to the Ethereum network.
Users will be able to exchange REAL tokens for economic rights of a property – these economic rights are referred to as REAL Property Participation ( RPP). RPPs can be traded and/or sold to others on the platform.
The REAL platform will take a 10% fee on all profits. For instance, if a property earns 100 ETH in rental income, the REAL platform will take 10 ETH as commission for finding and hosting the property on their website, and pay 90 ETH to investors.
The company said it will initially target opportunities in Spain, the Caribbean and the US.