Real estate investment mindshift needed: BRICKX
Anthony Millet, chief executive officer of BRICKX, says when it comes to investing in real estate we need to shift our mindsets.
"Property investment is possible without ever handing over the keys to the front door," he says.
It is an acknowledgement that the cost of housing within Sydney has well and truly moved away from the simple cost of land and building fundamentals, with a shortage of supply and unprecedented demand driving the market.
With the Federal Budget due next month, housing affordability has emerged as a red hot issue.
"I don’t envy the Treasurer because it’s a complex issue with no quick fix," Millet told me.
"Changes to negative gearing, a superannuation plan for first home buyers, unlocking Government land for housing, a review of foreign property investment, public and social housing grants and the list of potential solutions goes on."
Millet is behind the innovative private enterprise scheme where owning a fractional share in a house or apartment is possible without the need to own the entire property. It has been taken up over the past few months by some 3300 plus participants.
BrickX buys properties in blue chip suburbs and divides the acquisition price into 10,000 shares, or ‘bricks,’ available to the public currently priced between $100 to $150.
In the past, fractional ownership has been a method where unrelated parties share in ownership of a high-value tangible asset, usually a jet, yacht and sometimes piece of resort real estate in paradise.
BrickX offers premium residential suburb access with seven properties so far in Melbourne and Sydney, including Bondi Beach, Annandale and Mosman. There are plans to own in all capital cities, then its is likely they will consider regional centres.
Fifty percent of its customers are under the age of 35 and around three quarters had not invested in or owned real estate before. It has accordingly been described as the Uber of property investing, the newest way to keep up with the rising property market.
BrickX investors earn rental income from their proportion of the investment. They can also make capital gains by selling their bricks.
The online platform, launched last September, offers a valuable insight into the world of property, and no doubt its pluses and minuses, and ups and downs.
Those $100 bricks allow young savers an option other than a savings account while making progress towards to ultimate goal of home ownership.
Millet is keen on the debate moving on from housing affordability to housing accessibility in part because he says the so-called solving affordability solutions often actually equates to seeing house prices coming down.
"With 65 percent of this nation’s wealth tied up in residential property, to the majority, it’s not in their interests for house prices to fall."
This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.