CoAssets, Southeast Asia’s first real estate crowdfunding platform, has closed a Series A S$1 million investment round by private investors.
Getty Goh, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore-based company said: “Crowdfunding is quite a new concept, and is completely new for the property sector within Asia.
“The CoAssets platform brings together property developers who are looking for alternative financing and investors looking for investment diversification. There is huge potential in this model, and we will build our leadership in the space.”
CoAssets has crowdfunded S$36 million for more than 15 projects to date. Investors in those projects have received pay-outs of S$120,000 in total, averaging a return between 10 percent and 20 per cent.
A Malaysia office is already operating. The company will launch in Australia in the next few months.
CoAssets, launched in July 2013, crowdfunds for residential and commercial properties in Asia, Australia, the UK and the US.
It is growing rapidly, with membership increasing from 200 to over 6,000, across Singapore, Malaysia and the region. The platform provides developers, agents and home or landowners with an alternative source of funding for their properties, linking them to investors who are keen on co-developing projects and co-purchasing units.
Developer Thai Treasures Pte Ltd used the platform for its The Lai Thai Luxury Condominiums project, listing two units on CoAssets, providing an option to co-purchase or co-own.
Investors receive returns when the units are rented out and will receive returns when the units are sold. Thai Treasures made a first pay-out, of seven percent, to its crowdfunders in September 2014.
“CoAssets has brought a very useful financing model for developers like us, with investment needs that may be too small for bigger financial institutions and yet too large for the average investor,” said Robert Reynolds, Director of Thai Treasures.
Investors using the platform are safeguarded by a number of measures, including personal guarantees signed by developers, agents and home or land owners who list projects, as well as a cap of S$5 million on the total investment amount.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
