A new player is set to take the stage in the world of fractionalised property investing.
Sydney-based fintech start-up MyBrix has announced that it will begin taking applications for its no-interest and no-repayment property finance platform in September 2023, and that initial registrations are now open.
In a shake-up to the concept of fractionalised property investing, with MyBrix’s model, any property owner in the country can sell off a portion of their property, whether owner-occupied or rental, while retaining full control over their asset.
The idea was born out of a desire to find a way to provide interest-free loans to property owners, while also lowering the bar to property investing.
MyBrix is a peer-to-peer funding model that allows property owners the opportunity to sell their mortgage debt to investors who buy fractional interests in that property in increments as small as $100, or one “Brix”. Owners are required to discount the Brix that they sell, at a rate of 15 per cent for owner-occupied properties, and 10 per cent for investment properties, meaning that there’s an immediate profit margin for investors.
Property owners are able to buy back Brix if they wish to, otherwise the maximum loan term is 10 years, at which point the property owner can seek another loan, potentially with MyBrix, or sell, with the capital gains being split among the owner and investors, depending on their share of the property.
Promising that “mortgage cliffs will no longer hold fear for property owners [and] mortgage prison will not exist”, the firm is touting its model as the disruptor that Australian property needs right now. MyBrix argues that its service also has the capacity to put “less pressure on rental rates as landlords won’t have ever increasing mortgage repayments driven by higher interest rates”.
“We are now seeing the effects of the recent aggressive interest rate hikes on families across Australia as well as the economy in general. Using interest rates to regulate economic activity does not consider the people who bear the significant increases in the cost of life’s necessities such as food, power, mortgage payments and rent,” MyBrix founder and CEO Brian Stevens said.
Mr Stevens opined that while their platform represents a change from the norm, he feels that the appeal of interest-free loans will be sure to win people over to their unconventional model.
“Whilst charging interest on funding has a long history and its creation can be traced back to ancient civilisations, it is increasingly out of step with how people want to interact with finance and is not how high-cost assets, such as property, will be funded moving forward,” Mr Stevens said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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