Chinese regulators raided over 40 companies in China to investigate for illegal activities pertaining to the country's newly disseminated laws; investigators found property agents listing homes that owners had not agreed to sell and providing false information about properties; with a focus on real estate property investing, the investigators also found P2P lenders offering down payment loans after they were recently restricted by regulators. Source
Lending Times reports on the business model created by Unison to improve the affordability of home ownership in the United States; the firm has developed two main products, a HomeOwner and HomeBuyer product, that are based on an investment model rather than a lending model; as a real estate investor the firm provides capital for borrowers and shares in the gain or loss of the real estate property's value; Unison and other innovative real estate businesses participated in a panel at LendIt USA 2017 titled, "The New Era of Buying & Selling a House" sharing further insight on how fintech innovation is evolving in residential real estate. Source
Wealth Migrate is claiming to be the first real estate online investing platform that has incorporated blockchain technology; the company focuses on cross-border real estate investing; blockchain is being applied to defining and recording smart contracts and a decentralized, unalterable record of investment transactions. Source
The UK government has released a white paper discussing its real estate property development initiative; UK P2P lenders continue to support the initiative through alternative funding for real estate borrowers; the government will also manage a 1 billion British pound ($1.25 billion) fund for financing specialized real estate developers; the UK is targeting 200,000 new homes. Source
LandlordInvest has launched the UK's first secured property P2P lending innovative finance individual savings account (IFISA); the firm offers 5% to 12% returns on its loans and investors can now invest tax free with the IFISA; platform investments include bridge loans and term loans for buy-to-rent landlords; most of the firm's loans are for amounts ranging from 30,000 British pounds ($37,895) to 750,000 British pounds ($947,363) with a payoff term of five years; process for offering the IFISA took less than two months with approval obtained by HM Revenue and Customs shortly after the firm's Financial Conduct Authority approval in December. Source
Marketplace lending has evolved from personal loans to numerous verticals; Prime Meridian Capital Management discusses real estate lending and investment opportunities it offers in comparison to other real estate products; provides examples of platforms including ShareStates, Patch of Land, Realty Mogul, LendingHome and Money360; gives details on loans and the investing process for real estate platforms. Source
Landbay will add Positive Lending to its distribution network; Landbay has a comprehensive suite of services for its intermediaries and is also supporting them in advance of the UK's September PRA portfolio landlord changes; Landbay is a UK specialist buy to let mortgage lender authorized by the FCA and involved with the P2PFA as one of its members. Source
"Rocket Mortgage has forever changed the way people think about getting a mortgage," said Jay Farner, CEO of Quicken Loans; for 2016 Quicken Loans has reported record originations of $96 billion with $7 billion contributed by Rocket Mortgage which has been originating loans for 11 months; consumers have reported high demand for the Rocket Mortgage product which provides a much simpler process for homeowners by digitally verifying income, credit, assets and property valuations. Source
P2P commercial real estate lender Relendex has received authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority; the platform provides secured commercial property loans through its P2P marketplace lending platform and now plans to seek the offering of innovative finance individual savings accounts for its investors; in comments regarding the authorization, Michael Lynn, the firm's founder and chief executive officer said, "FCA full authorization marks a fantastic start to 2017 for the Relendex team and platform which will further encourage and facilitate investment in commercial property from both our UK and foreign investors." Source
Mortgage automation can be applied to every step of the mortgage process to help make lenders more efficient and provide a better user experience.