Buying or selling real estate usually involves a lot of money, and that money is usually in local currency. But did you know that you can actually buy or sell a house, and even invest in a part of it, by using cryptocurrencies? That’s what happening in several parts of the world and, more recently, in Spain. Real estate properties paid with cryptos are becoming more common.
According to several reports by local media and data from real estate platforms, there are over 60 sale ads where the seller accepts bitcoins and other cryptos, like Ethereum (ETH). And that’s only in the portals Fotocasa and Idealista. Outside, we even have specialized portals that offer real estate paid with cryptos, like the site BitcoinBitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. It was created in 2009, by an anonymous founder or group of founders... More Real State.
Additionally, the Spanish firm Caliber & Partners offers intermediation services to purchase any kind of real state using Bitcoin, even if the owner only wants euros. And the opportunities don’t end there. Companies like this one also let investors buying a cheaper real estate share along with other buyers, so, they can become partial owners of the property.
That’s what the local exchange Criptan and the real estate firm Rental IT made recently. They tokenized a house in Seville to divide its value into several fractions. Next, these were put up for sale to investors worldwide, in exchange for ETH. As a result, 32 investors from Spain, Argentina, and Mexico acquired the house, which now is for rent.
Eric Sánchez, Rental IT CEO, commented about it:
“With the payment in cryptocurrencies we are laying the foundations for what we know will be the future, which is to convert investment in real estate into a financial product that everyone can have access to”.
Real estate with cryptos
Shortly, we may see the relationship between cryptos and real estate growing more and more. Not only for direct purchases but also to improve lease management, property listings, and title registries. Automatic transactions and identity verification would be also possible with smart contracts. Finally, the tokenization of a property will create a new way of investment and provide liquidity to the real estate market.
The multinational firm KPMG explained in a report:
“Fractional ownership allows the interests in an asset [property] to be shared among a wide pool of investors, and the programmable nature of security tokens technically enables unlimited share classes and widely customizable fee structures at a low operational cost. With these new options available, issuers will benefit from clearly identifying the target investor base, including levels of investment capital commitment and anticipated demand for liquidity.”
There are still some challenges ahead, though. The main of them it’s probably the regulatory uncertainty. This isn’t yet a regulated market, so, new laws for these kinds of assets might appear in the future.
Featured Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat / Pixabay
Wanna trade Bitcoin and other tokens? You can do it safely on Alfacash! And not forget we’re talking about this and a lot of other things on our social media.
Twitter * Telegram * Facebook * Instagram * Youtube * Vkontakte