Completing a real estate transaction can get a mess. Buyers, sellers, brokers, legal representatives, mortgage providers, and of course the government are required to complete forms and documents that must be stamped, scanned, faxed, or sent by service.
Blockchain and real estate transactions seem to be a perfect match because such transactions require secure and immutable ownership records, and trust is key. Blockchain technology may allow any two parties to trade directly without the need for a trusted third party, such as a real estate agent. Although the intermediary seems unlikely to disappear completely.
In some countries, the real estate industry has begun to accept blockchain technology. In Sweden, real estate buyers and sellers can be verified by the telecommunications company Telia's authentication solution. Georgia plans to use the blockchain to register land ownership and verify real estate transactions with the help of Bitfury. This service will enable the US government to verify and sign a document containing proof of citizenship and property ownership.
China has already conducted experiments on this technology in Xiong'an New District. Xiong'an New District is China's future emerging city.
James Hawkey, head of China's retail business at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), said, “When the blockchain becomes a mainstream real estate technology, using blockchains in the land registry will mark the blockchain will become a A mainstream technology and will promote real acceleration in other real estate uses.”
He said that the most basic use case for blockchain in real estate is to place a country's land registry (or its peers) on the blockchain. This will allow for the recording of all ownership and changes in ownership of property and property rights.
Hawkey added: "Creating a digital record of property is a considerable obstacle. It is a huge undertaking that requires government support."
Smart contracts
that include contractual terms for both parties are another key feature of the blockchain. These contracts can be verified by digital signatures and authorizations. Because they are distributed - each action is recorded on multiple "nodes" - the blockchain contains a simple record of all transactions. This helps avoid double spending, fraud, abuse and manipulation.
In Xiong An, a project fund management platform supporting the blockchain was designed to prevent the misappropriation and interception of funds. With the help of Ant Financial and other partners, Xiong An is also preparing a blockchain rental platform that provides accurate information on government-certified listings, tenants and landlords. This will help Hong Kong solve the general problem of serious beautification or falsehood of real estate listing.
Intelligence and people also allow for greater automation. For example, they can “know” that the property lease is coming to an end and remind the landlord to return the deposit.
This is what a startup in Singapore does. Ivan Lim, founder and CEO of RealEstateDoc, a real estate company focused on the commercial real estate market, said: "We are actually making it easy for landlords to create digital contracts. We can collect data from digital contracts and help them.
Powering the platform to generate reports.” Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hawkeye says a key benefit of smart contracts is the reduction in time required and the parties involved – buyers, buyers, agents and mortgage lenders – Coordination. This may be the perfect use case for smart contracts. When the conditions are met, the trade will move forward.
There are many other applications. For example, Chinese startup PutLink aims to help Chinese investors invest in overseas real estate by using mainstream cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
PutLink's Michael Su said: "The blockchain makes payments safer, easier, faster, it makes the contract unchangeable and reliable - you don't need to fly overseas to sign it."
Partial ownership is
more radical The idea might be to mark real estate as a digital form—a process of representing real-world asset ownership on a blockchain ledger. Tokenization can turn property into something similar to a company traded on a stock exchange, where ownership can be partial.
Wang Wei, a former Google engineer and co-founder of the American company Third Planet, said that the blockchain has some unique applications or properties that allow us to think about real estate in new ways.
“One of the things we are doing is working with developers and investors to help reduce the barriers to entry for ordinary investors,” he said with partial ownership. A typical 10-story development project is usually funded by banks, private equity or wealthy investors. He added that some of the ownership of the blockchain support could change this.
He said: "Maybe you can get 10,000 or 1 million investors, not 10 investors." He added that this approach can help people get more easily, especially for young people who can't afford a house. Said.
Blockchain can also help add more data insights to an industry that is experiencing a data revolution. Many real estate systems and processes are currently siloed, which means that it is difficult to connect points and draw conclusions.
Despite this, the blockchain has its limitations and is not suitable for all types of systems. A report from Deloitte Consulting shows that if it is not implemented properly, it may add more costs. For example, invariance is considered to be one of the supercapabilities of the blockchain, but this can be a burden because canceling orders and transactions can happen frequently.
The blockchain of the real estate industry is still in the early stages of development. While some applications may seem obvious, other applications will become clearer with the emergence of successful case studies.