blockchain history made
Issue 76 - March 18th, 2022
Blockchain technology is a no-brainer for the real estate industry, specifically around the title transfer process. This week a huge announcement hit the press but was not widely picked up due to some more important news dominating headlines. I wanted to highlight it here today for my audience. I have previously written about how I see blockchain technology being widely adopted at some point in the title and escrow industry for real estate transactions - you can read my previous post below!
From FinLedger: “Figure, a blockchain-focused financial service company and Apollo, a global alternative asset manager, announced completing a transaction involving the origination of digital mortgage loans and transfer of ownership via blockchain technology.
The companies say the secure process was a “first of its kind” in the mortgage industry and has the potential to revolutionize the $3 trillion mortgage ecosystem.
During the transactions, Apollo purchased eNote digital mortgage assets, originated by Figure on the Provenance Blockchain and registered on its Digital Asset Registration Technologies (DART) platform, via an investment vehicle it manages on a blockchain-based marketplace.
The release says that when coupled with a connected digital currency account, this technology enables real-time, multi-party settlement that incurs less risk than traditional methods.”
The most notable part of this historical transaction, in my opinion, is the mention of the DART platform which could theoretically replace the currently (outdated) MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System) platform which mortgage and escrow companies widely use today to record transactions and ownership transfers.
The process for recording and researching title is archaic in most counties around the country, and the only way a widely adopted solution will become mainstream is if there is a new electronic (blockchain) database that houses all of the property info at scale. You cannot just implement blockchain tech on a small basis as there are too many kinks in the system to have a meaningful impact. It is a heavy heavy lift to make change in this part of the industry. As we keep moving forward, I do believe that more mortgage and escrow companies will be open to new ways to record title and transfer ownership especially if these systems increase their accuracy and also their bottom line. Time will tell and it will take a long time, but nonetheless it is fun to see the early stages of this stuff start to take place.
Newsworthy Links To Share
Knock (scraps planned IPO) Secures $220 Million in New Funding to Help Homebuyers and Their Agents Compete in Today's Competitive Housing Market (PR Newswire)
Amazon is the Latest Big Tech Firm to Plant a Flag in Miami Office Market- The e-commerce giant is renting nearly 9,000 square feet of office space at a WeWork Inc. building in Coral Gables(WSJ)
AcreTrader Expands Series B Round to Over $60 Million: Farmland Investment Company Adds New Talent Across Organization and Scales Analytics and Geospatial Capabilities (AcreTrader)
Roofstock raises $240M at $1.9B valuation to expand access to real estate investing (PR Newswire)
Single-family rental prices in the US rose 12.6% Y/Y, according to the latest CoreLogic data. Miami reported a 39% Y/Y increase, while Washington DC came in the lowest at just +5.6%.
As Austin aims to build a Southern Silicon Valley, it’s spending $20 billion on infrastructure (Fortune)
Dallas-based Invitation Homes is raising its stake in the fast-growing single-family rental home space with a big investment in homes at prices of up to $800,000 — twice the value of houses in the publicly traded company’s current portfolio of rentals.
Baselane launches landlord banking platform to simplify rental property finances (Finledger)
Big Tech Coming After Agent Commissions in a Big Way: The biggest real estate tech companies — Zillow, Compass, and Opendoor — have set their sights on agent commissions as a source of revenue and profit growth (Mike DelPrete Blog)