Off market property listing platform NOKK launched

A new property tech platform will allow prospective home buyers to connect with home owners who are willing to entertain offers.

It is being set up by ROKT co-founder Ben Voltz and former commodities banker William Evans (pictured below), who suggest the website allows prospective vendors to dip their toe in the market and see what buyer interest exists.

The platform, known as NOKK, facilitates a digital doorknock, or letterbox drop, that lets buyers target homes in a specified location, where the owners have indicated they would consider selling, but have not engaged a real estate agent.

The Australian Financial Review reports it will rival another local start-up, Soho, which was founded by Airtasker co-founder Jonathan Lui as a "LinkedIn for property".

NOKK will focus on facilitating connections between buyers and owners in the off-market market.

Voltz said the idea for NOKK came after he moved to Melbourne three years ago.

"I was looking for a house in Albert Park, but there were only 15 properties on the market," he said. 

"I ran 300 letterbox drops and had 18 responses, so that was more than the number of people on market that were willing to have a conversation with me.

"Will and I were boxing at the time and we kept stewing on this idea of how we could build this into a platform."

The pair began building NOKK 18 months ago, investing their own money and raising $1 million in capital from high-net-worth investors.

They include Cadmon Ventures managing director Cameron Low.

NOKK has quickly signed up 7000 users, predominantly from Melbourne, with almost 3000 property listings.

The home owner does not need to post their address, with a radius shown within the selected suburb.