A team of real estate executives in the multinational property agency, development, finance and technology sectors have joined forces to launch the new platform. The leadership team includes Ashley Osborne, a former Colliers International executive, and Kenyon Clarke, New Zealand’s largest apartment developer, top portfolio management office and eighth-largest homebuilder. With offices in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Auckland, the team will provide members worldwide with opportunities to invest in real estate developments in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, with more markets to be announced in 2021.
The Dec. 15 launch is part of the first Du Val PropTech Global PropTech Virtual Conference co-hosted by Osborne and Clarke. The virtual event taking place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. UTC will feature panel discussions on the current state of the international real estate investment landscape and new technologies that are disintermediating the industry to improve customer experiences. The event, which may be accessed at www.duvalproptech.com, will feature presentations by industry heavyweights from Barratt Homes, City & Docklands, Mount Anvil, Regal London and Taylor Wimpey.
The new technology platform is designed to create a win-win synergy between independent investors and developers, democratising the sector and addressing long-standing inefficiencies within the housing market by offering the following:
- Enabling a broad population of smaller investors to combine their resources to jointly invest in lucrative projects in which they otherwise would never be able to invest. By pooling their investments, smaller investors enjoy larger bulk-volume discounts and greater negotiating power
- Increasing access to much-needed capital to build quality projects, a traditional hurdle for many developers.
- Minimizing a major cost center in property development – high-priced marketing campaigns and expositions to secure investment – thereby making project development more affordable for developers and more accessible to a broader population of investors
“Real estate marketers have historically had to over-invest to attract large numbers of people, knowing that not everyone who looks at a property will invest,” said Osborne, PropTech’s CEO. “Ultimately, it’s the investor who pays for all this waste. PropTech is changing that model and bringing a long-awaited level of transparency, accessibility and profitability to international property development and investment.”
Added Clarke, PropTech’s Chairman: “Our mission is to provide smaller, astute investors with institutional-grade property information, analysis and access to property investment opportunities previously not available to them. We created a powerful platform that provides information and analysis tools within easy reach so any smart investor can analyze opportunities like a pro, which means they can invest better, and prosper faster.”
Here’s how it works:
- The platform uses a proprietary algorithm for its dynamic, real-time pricing system which enables investors to use their combined buying power to lower the costs of investing. Knowing how much they would otherwise spend to market their properties to investors, property developers can offer significant discounts and pass along savings to PropTech’s members.
- The PropTech team conducts ongoing research of markets and opportunities focused on long-term wealth creation and shares them with members. The platform aggregates and shares real estate market and investment data on property value trends, rental market demand and yield trends across local and global markets, as well as analysis and comparison tools that enable investors to understand all the trends and see all the costs and taxes associated with their investments.
- For a small annual membership fee, subscribers can access the PropTech platform to conduct transparent analysis, evaluation and investment in real estate development opportunities which are hand-selected by the PropTech team.
Added Clarke: “As successful and experienced property investors ourselves, we share our knowledge and strategies with our members – including how to use our scenario analysis tools to confirm that they’re getting the right yield from their property investments, which is invaluable. We also leverage our trusted relationships with many of the best property developers in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand to offer exclusive access to property development projects at the same time as institutional investors. Known as the ‘first-look,’ this is how the professional investors maximize their yields and how long-term wealth is created.”
ABOUT DU VAL PROPTECH
Du Val PropTech is a new proptech business model disintermediating traditional real estate investing by bringing public access to multinational market information and unique deal opportunities, enabling individual investors to combine their buyer power to receive volume discounts previously only available to elite investors via large institutions and property agencies. The membership-based platform is designed to remove market friction and streamline transactions, creating significant advantages for both investors and developers alike. The platform provides developers with reduced marketing costs and much-needed capital for planned development, while providing its members with access to market data and resources, investment analysis tools, and support from portfolio advisers to complete transactions. More information is available at www.duvalproptech.com
Editor’s Notes: Interviews are available upon request