How This Leader in Real Estate Tokenization Can Help Close the Home Ownership Gap with Blockchain

Purchasing a home has often been regarded as a hallmark of individual success. 

According to research firm YouGov, 74% of Americans say they place the highest priority on owning a home, ranking it above having a successful career, owning an automobile and — surprisingly — retiring. 

Providing a perfect roadmap to discontent are the harsh realities obstructing the millennial’s path toward this goal. According to a 2019 study, nearly 70% of millennials say they cannot afford a house because of rising prices. This dream-shattering reality is explained — or perhaps, compounded — by the findings that housing prices have increased by 120% since 1965 and the generational wealth gap has significantly expanded over the last couple of years.

While one could understand millennials fuming over their real estate troubles, blockchain enthusiasts would be quick to counter this response. Specifically, for those engaged in the tokenization of real estate assets, like RealT, a convenient solution to their woes may be just around the corner. 

Like many other industries, blockchain has sparked ideas for innovating the real estate market through the concept of tokenization. Tokenization allows many investors to own small parcels of large investment properties through the purchase of digital tokens that are tied to these properties. 

According to a study by Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB), 13 American companies — including Citigroup Inc. C and JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM —  have already begun doing so. RealT is among those real estate tokenization pioneers providing hope for millennial homeownership — albeit in a way they might not have expected. 

Tokenized Real Estate With RealT

According to metrics provided to Benzinga, RealT is a leader in real estate tokenization. 

As of June 31, RealT tells Benzinga it has reached $49 million in sales, more than 210 tokenized properties and over 920 units in areas like Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland. Compared to other operators in tokenized assets, RealT boasts a large cohort of investors who act incredibly quickly. 

In fact, RealT tells Benzinga that over 9,820 investors from 135 countries have used RealT to purchase tokenized real estate. Given RealT’s extreme accessibility and the power of crowdsourcing, the average time of sale for a $1 million property listed on RealT is reportedly just six minutes!

These incredible numbers reflect the excitement surrounding tokenized real estate as the future of property ownership. Throughout this sector, and within the decentralized finance (DeFi) sphere, the RealT brand has achieved worldwide notoriety, energizing and attracting an online community of 57,000 members. 

In less than three years, RealT has achieved the following milestones: 

• Q3 2019: The first worldwide standardized tokenization platform
• Q4 2019: World’s first integration of security tokens on a decentralized exchange
• Q4 2020: Multichain with the launch on Gnosis Chain (then xDai)
• Q1 2021: Launch of the "re-investment" property
• Q4 2021: Launch of payments with Request Network
• Q1 2022: Launch of RMM, the world’s first real estate token-lending platform, through a partnership with Commutatio Holdings Ltd, a British Virgin Islands holding company established to operate RMM.

RealT’s achievements with tokenized assets have reportedly made it the second-largest protocol on the Gnosis Chain, and the 133rd most important protocol in DeFi, according to the Defi Lama. Since the launch of the RealToken platform in February of last year, token owners have risen from 59 holders to 5,180, an increase of roughly 8,680%. 

Ready to start investing in popular properties around the U.S.? 

Check out RealT’s geographical listings here, and click here to get started.

This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.

Featured photo by Naomi Hébert on Unsplash