We have a housing crisis in Ireland and the causes and potential solutions are well documented. The hangover from the crash continues and the funding vacuum caused by the financial crisis is creating opportunities for new entrants. We have development clients borrowing from the US, UK, Hong Kong and Latvia. Long gone are the days when it was a choice of 3 banks or nothing. Whilst the security documentation from the international lenders can be "challenging" (to put it mildly) they are putting important but very expensive capital on the table.
Time to get creative. We have recently worked on a new investor platform for a residential development in Dublin created by Cantor Fitzgerald. An exciting model for their clients to fund a new project. We are also watching the space for new technology platforms to allow retail investors get involved too. This article is very interesting. Give it a year and we'll be crowdfunding for our clients. Exciting times with great technical legal challenges to get our teeth into.
It is widely accepted that extra land is needed to significantly boost new housing supply, and that is where innovative platforms, like Intro Crowd, a new crowdfunding website providing investors with an alternative way of investing in UK property development could potentially help. Intro Crowd, launched last month, offers the opportunity for investors to buy shares in companies owning the plots of land for as little as £1,500. Gregory Baker, Intro Crowd’s chief executive, said: “The government has pledged to build one million new homes over the next five years and the challenge is finding the land on which to build them. We believe our investors can make a contribution to reducing this shortfall.”
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