Momentum expands investment in Managed

Managed was the first digital platform in the property management sector that provided direct and automated payments for real estate rental transactions.

The cloud-based software represents a secure and viable alternative to traditional trust accounts for real estate transactions, and therefore the need for trust accounting software.

Momentum increased its existing stake in the business through the acquisition of shareholdings from co-founders Nicholas Bouris and Thom Richards as well as realestate.com.au.

Momentum is a peerless media, events, technology and marketing business that connects with millions of professionals across 100-plus dynamic market segments at the core of Australia’s economy.

Some of Momentum’s media assets include Real Estate Business (REB), Smart Property Investment (SPI), Property Buzz, The Adviser and Mortgage Business – representing comprehensive reach across property investors, home owners, real estate agents, property managers and mortgage brokers.

Managed has changed the face of property management technology in just five years.

In 2018 Mr Richards, a property manager for more than a decade, believed that an agency could be run more profitably and efficiently with a cloud-based platform that combined modern automated payments with a more intuitive workflow property management system.

He joined forces with Mr Bouris, a tech entrepreneur and digital payments expert, and they co-founded Managed with the vision of building a new payments platform for property managers to address the time-consuming and manual process of managing real estate payments via a trust account.

Momentum was an early investor in the emerging and rapidly growing payments platform, which was subsequently complemented by realestate.com.au’s investment.

Phillip Tarrant, director of Momentum and chairman of Managed, described the Managed story as “nothing short of incredible”.

“It has been a privilege to witness what Nick and Thom have built over the last five years,” Mr Tarrant said.

“Others have tried and failed where they succeeded. They are true pioneers and have created a genuine alternative to the trust account, which now paves the way for all agencies to run faster, smoother and more profitable operations – and for landlords to maximise their real estate investments.”

Today, Managed is Australia’s fastest growing property management platform and leads the marketplace in automated and direct payments between tenants, landlords and tradespeople.

To date the platform has transacted close to $3 billion in payments via thousands of stakeholders.

According to Mr Tarrant, the Managed proposition could never have been brought into fruition without the inspired, early backing of realestate.com.au.

“Realestate.com.au has been instrumental in delivering a product rather than just a vision. I have enjoyed working with realestate.com.au, and I will be eternally grateful for the significant support their business, and the realestate.com.au team, have been for Managed.”

Mr Tarrant said that the timing of Momentum’s shareholding expansion could not be better.

“These are challenging times for property managers as investors grapple with rising rates and increased property holding costs. This is exactly the market conditions where agencies backed by Managed have the strongest proposition.

“With direct rental payments a core offering, landlords with a Managed agency have considerably better cash flow. Landlords want money in that offset account the second it’s available to reduce interest costs,” he said.

Looking into the future, Mr Tarrant expects to see a slow but steady migration to property management platforms that are built around direct and automated payments.

He said that a major indicator for this is the speed that start-ups, real estate agents and property managers who launch with Managed build their rent rolls.

“Managed powers some of the biggest agencies in Australia, and we migrate established agencies every week. But we are also the first choice for the next wave of agencies that see the advantages of starting out with the right technology, and letting automation replace much of the manual work.

“Some of our earlier start-ups have quickly built rent rolls from scratch that are in the hundreds of PUM (properties under management) and still growing. Why would you start out in property management today with a platform that is built around trust account management when there is a better alternative?,” he remarked.

Mr Tarrant said that Momentum’s expansion of its investment in Managed will be essential for supporting the ongoing growth and development of the business and driving market penetration in core market segments.

“With a third of Australians renting, a robust and modern payments platform that supports better outcomes for all stakeholders – tenants, landlords and property managers – is essential.

“Momentum will serve as an invested, connected and well-capitalised partner for championing our expansion and shaping a positive future for our organisation,” Mr Tarrant said.