What Does Real Estate Have to Do With Blockchain?

BLOCKCHAIN CAN BUILD THINGS TOO!

So many people think that blockchain is all about Bitcoin and other electronic currencies. After all, we think of the blockchain as a new, evolving, and dynamic technology. Investing in real estate has got to be one of the oldest and most established ways to earn. It turns out that blockchain and some other booming types of tech can help transform the real estate market both for developers and for investors.

If you don't think there's room for growth, you should consider some statistics. While the global real estate market may be worth over $200 trillion, the value of managed property investments was close to only $7.4 trillion last year. Why is there such a big gap?

What Are Problems With Real Estate Development Today?

No matter how you invest in real estate development today, you've got to tie your money up for a considerable length of time. You take on additional risks because of the length of development, high transaction fees, a lack of transparency between developers and investors, and sometimes, considerable barriers to entry because of the amount of money that you have to invest.

It turns out that blockchain tokens can solve many of these problems. In fact, there is already a very good example of this happening with apartment development in Hong King. This project had problems raising funds because in addition to all of the other problems associated with investing in new development, this particularly city is considered a risky and volatile market.

Risky and volatile? That sounds like a perfect place for the blockchain!

BLOCKCHAIN SAVES THE DAY!

These are some features of the blockchain system for real estate development investment:

• Bankex setup a blockchain that issued "Proof-of-Asset" tokens. Each token was meant to represent a certain number of square meters in the project. So, you could take the total number of square meters in the project to figure out the share that each token would represent.
• These tokens would appreciate as more progress was made towards completion of the development project. Token owners were free to buy and sell their tokens whenever they wanted and could find somebody to exchange with.
• The project also employed IoT scanners to keep track of progress and property condition. All information was recorded in a transparent way, so both investors and developers were on the same page at all times.

This idea for real estate development offers transparency. Just as important, it offers investors a degree of liquidity that they could rarely enjoy with other methods of real estate investment.

Who Cares About Blockchain and Real Estate

I've always believed that digital currency is only one way to make use of blockchain tech. Those of us on Steemit know that has to be true. I like exploring other uses of blockchain.

Thanks for Stopping By!

Please let me know what you think or offer examples of other new uses of blockchain tech. I almost always vote on and comment upon RELEVANT comments. If you want to vote and follow, you can help offer me encouragement, but you are free to do what you want with your stake.

Sources and Further Reading:
https://blog.bankex.org/how-tokenisation-reinvented-the-real-estate-investment-market-dca22f90112a
Photos sourced from Pixabay