‘Buy Now Pay Later’ Coming to the Australian Real Estate Market

Buy Now Pay Later is coming to real estate, giving investors an alternative avenue to realising their dreams of property ownership.

As housing affordability continues to be a pressing issue, especially for younger generations, and the national housing market rebounds solidly from COVID-19, the Afterpay of real estate has come knocking.

Dynamic micro-investing platform Bricklet is providing buyers the opportunity to become an independent part owner of their chosen residential or commercial dwelling via BNPL as of this weekend.

“Bricklet came about from the idea of making property investment accessible to all Australians and buy now pay later is about extending that reach,” Bricklet CEO Darren Younger said.

“Saving up your deposit for your first home is a big challenge and Bricklet has always been about providing an alternative to that. But we also understand saving up a lump sum to invest via Bricklet can also be an ask.

“That’s why we have opened up the buy now pay later option. The amount required to get your foot in the door is within the reach of many potential investors.”

However, Bricklet’s investment proposal differs from most BNPL platforms in that there are no penalties for late payments. There are no extra fees or interest due on late payments.

The cost of a bricklet depends on the purchase price of the property and the number of investors or owners. For example, if a $1 million property is fragmented into 40 bricklets, each one is valued at $25,000.

Each owner is registered on the title as tenants in common and the independent part-ownership allows you to sell your slice of the property at any time on the Bricklet platform, which is a venture from the Lakeba Group. Mr Younger said the average time on market for a single bricklet is about a week.

Via buy now pay later, the owner would pay a first payment of 10 per cent of the value of the Bricklet (plus costs where applicable such as stamp duty and conveyancing) and then pay off the remainder of the amount owing over 18 months in instalments of five per cent.

As always, seek independent financial advice when considering buying real estate.