Given blockchain’s disruption of financial services and subsequent widespread application across industries, it’s hard to find a segment that has not been influenced by the technology. Cryptocurrencies have made a strong impact on payments, remittances, and foreign exchange. Initial coin offerings (ICOs) have challenged stock investing, startup loans, and venture capital. Even the food supply chain industry has been upended by blockchain.
Real estate hasn’t escaped blockchain disruption either. Previously, transacting high value assets such as real estate exclusively through digital channels has never been the norm. Real estate transactions are often conducted offline involving face-to-face engagements with various entities. Blockchain, however, opened up ways to change this. The introduction of smart contracts in blockchain platforms now allows assets like real estate to be tokenized and be traded like cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether.
Trading real estate this way varies. Here are six ways blockchain has changed the real estate game.
Real estate technology has traditionally been primarily concerned with listings and with connecting buyers and sellers. However, blockchain introduces new ways to trade real estate and can enable trading platforms and online marketplaces to support real estate transactions more comprehensively. For example, ATLANT has developed a platform that uses blockchain technology to facilitate real estate and rental property transactions. By tokenizing real property, assets can then be traded much like stocks on an exchange and transactions can be done online.
ATLANT allows sellers to tokenize assets, essentially handling it like a stock sale, and liquidating that asset through a token sale using the platform. The collected tokens can be exchanged for fiat currency, with buyers owning a percentage stake of the property.
Brokers, lawyers, and banks have long been part of the real estate ecosystem. However, blockchain may soon usher in a shift in their roles and participation in real estate transactions, according to a report by Deloitte.1 New platforms can eventually assume functions such as listings, payments, and legal documentation. Cutting out the intermediaries will result in buyers and sellers getting more out of their money as they save on commissions and fees charged by these intermediaries. This also makes the process much quicker as the back-and-forth between these middlemen gets cut.
Real estate has long been considered an illiquid asset since it takes time for sales to conclude. This isn’t the case with cryptocurrencies and tokens since they can, in theory, be readily traded for fiat currencies through exchanges. However, as tokens, real estate can be readily traded. A seller doesn’t have to wait for a buyer who can afford the whole property in order to get some value out of their property.
