Dutch P2P property platform enters Australia market
Dutch lender Briqwise has become the latest peer-to-peer property platform to expand into Australia, following CrowdProperty’s expansion announcement earlier this year.
Briqwise founder Pieter Porte noted that the low interest rates at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) made this a particularly good time to enter the Australian commercial property market.
The platform – which specialises in real estate financing – said that it aims to lower barriers for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals investing in commercial properties.
“SMEs can potentially face huge challenges when looking for commercial finance to buy their business premises,” explained Porte.
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“Under the same economic conditions, investors are looking for alternative ways to grow their wealth – especially when interest rates are dropping to below zero. That makes savings very unattractive. In Australia, RBA has reduced interest rates to 0.25 per cent and maybe soon to zero.”
As of today (15 July), Briqwise is accepting new loan applications from Australian borrowers, with a “conservative” risk approach, and an investment minimum of AUS$100,000.
“A property is usually funded to a maximum of 75 per cent of its value credit assessment,” explained Martin Mulder, Briqwise partner.
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“This assessment is conducted by the Briqwise Value Assessment tool (BVA) which is similar to ones used by traditional banks. However, our application process is much faster due to our advanced IT platform, which circumvents traditional impediments.”
Investor rates are fixed over a loan period of between 12 months and 20 years, and all lenders will have first mortgage security.
“By 2025, Briqwise aims to be a fully-fledged international platform, represented in at least five countries worldwide,” said Porte.
“The scalable and intelligent cross-border IT platform ensures the local Briqwise team can conduct all funding via our quick, transparent and straightforward process.”
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