Special report: “Fractional property investment” is an increasingly popular investment strategy amid ever-increasing house prices.

Instead of a buyer putting down a deposit for a property, fractional investment allows the cost to be divided into shares and sold to investors, effectively giving each holder a portion of a property.

As the property’s value rises, so too does the value of each share.

In the past year, there has been a notable rise in the popularity of fractional property investment as house prices in many of the major cities skyrocket – not just in Australia but in overseas markets too.

The concept has attracted platforms such as BrickX and most recently CoVESTA — but the latest blockchain-enabled platform could represent the future.

CastleCoin describes itself as a blockchain-based real estate investment platform and digital currency that’s designed to simplify property investing — empowering buyers, investors and vendors to make better informed investment decisions and cut through barriers to entry.

The concept supports conventional AND fractionalised real estate purchase and sale.

CastleCoin will do this through a concept known as tokenising, which assigns the value of real-world assets to a token or currency, meaning investors can capitalise on the value of the market in a way that is more secure, accountable and accessible than the current standard.

On the surface, the company acts as a real estate listing platform. But it provides the functionality to support user and market feedback in addition to real estate agency, conveyancing, investment, sale and purchase functionality in both fiat and cryptocurrency.

CastleCoin will issue utility tokens in the form of “CastleCoins” — a cryptocurrency that can be traded within and independently of the platform designed to run the ecosystem.

Users are able to invest in Australian real estate with fiat currency and cryptocurrency, delivering a seamless investment process — in addition to a digital currency that is functional and tradeable on most of Australia’s cryptocurrency exchanges.

“Today, property investment is complex, disjointed and relies on third parties to process transactions which slows deal flow, liquidity, and reduces potential return on investment,” CEO James Lynch told Stockhead.

“CastleCoin is designed to combat the complexity and potentially disjointed nature of property investment.”

The tokens, or coins, give users rights with respect to selecting assets and using internal arbitration processes. They also serve as a currency to purchase membership and make use of the platform, list properties and cover costs associated with generating and executing smart contracts.

CastleCoin is looking to raise 16,000 ethereum cryptcurrency, representing 75 per cent of the total 100 million CastleCoin coins. The remainder is reserved for the advisory panel, team incentives, marketing initiatives and post ICO (initial coin offering) sales.

Key advantages of buying through CastleCoin include reduced sale, marketing and closing costs and time frames and less time-consuming paper-pushing.

The platform boasts a suite of recognised academics on its advisory board, including RMIT’s Blockchain Innovation Hubs Prof. Sinclair Davidson, Dr Mark Sinclair and Dr Steven Enticott.

These experts help CastleCoin capitalise on the value of blockchain applications and deal with market, sector and regulatory requirements.

James Lynch, CastleCoin Chief
James Lynch, CastleCoin Chief

CEO James Lynch falls into this group of experts.

As a lecturer in financial planning and qualified mortgage broker Mr Lynch has been in the property market for seven years, working with real estate agents, property investment advisers, financial planners, mortgage brokers, accountants and individuals in the property investment space.

He also spent five years in mentor education working with real estate and finance professionals on compliance, practice management and educational development.

“With the CastleCoin platform, we will create an informed, transparent and trusted community to support change in the property investment ecosystem and be rewarded for doing so,” he said.

“CastleCoin and its team will make real estate investment available to everyone while developing a more efficient sector by linking supply and demand more effectively.

“We’re well-positioned to break into the next stage of growth, partnerships and participation in what is a new real estate ecosystem.”

 

This special report is brought to you by CastleCoin.

This advice has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should, therefore, consider the appropriateness of the advice, in light of your own objectives, financial situation or needs, before acting on the advice.

If this advice relates to the acquisition, or possible acquisition, of a particular financial product, the recipient should obtain a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) relating to the product and consider the PDS before making any decision about whether to acquire the product.