Dubai Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform Integrates Bitcoin To Attract Young Investors

A crowdfunding, Real Estate platform in Dubai, adds bitcoin as a payment option in order to attract young tech-savvy investors who have been alienated from Dubai’s growing Real Estate market.

Since it’s 2008 crash,  Dubai’s real estate market is widely considered to have recovered. It has grown to such a degree that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed concerns it was reaching pre-crisis prices again in late 2013. In Oct 2014 however, the IMF expressed they are less concerned now since fervent activity has cooled and the Property market has stabilized.

The Property Market is not dead though. Properties are being developed and prices remain high compared to several years ago. Dubai’s Department of Economic Development thinks it will be leading the nation’s economy in 2015. Waleed Esbaitah, the CEO of Durise, a crowdfunding platform for Real Estate, is looking to be bring a new demographic into the growing market, “The makeup of the Middle East is overwhelmingly young, which translates into technology savvy investors who are comfortable with technology and the concept of crowdfunding.  At the same time, for many young investors the price point for entry into the real estate market is far too high, which is why Durise is the perfect option for them"

• Esbaitah

To help young investors enter the market at a lower price point, Durise is creating the country’s first crowdfunding platform for Real Estate. The firm will allow investors to invest as little as $5,000 into properties. Each investor chips in to buy a part of a property and gets a percentage of the property’s returns equal to the amount they invested. If the amount of capital needed to buy the property is not met, the funds will be returned to the investors.

“The same people who are attracted to new ways of doing business are also attracted to new ways of payment, which is why Durise is the perfect option for young tech-savvy investors as well as experienced investors are forward thinking and can see the benefits to using technology to make business transactions easier and simpler in general”.

Crowd-Funding Property

The company already lists three properties, including the Index Tower which is located in the coveted and tax lenient economic zone, the Dubai International Financial Center. Currently they are only allowing investors to register and will open the properties to investment in early 2015.

The company is continuing to pursue their focus on young investors by adding bitcoin to their list of currencies to invest with. “It was a natural next step for us to accept and even encourage payment in Bitcoin as we do not want to deter young, tech-savvy investors by only accepting traditional payment methods. Equally we wish to open the UAE Real Estate market for international investors who actively adopted Bitcoin”.

“I believe that Bitcoin can become a standard means of payment both in real estate and other major investments. Everyone knows how Bitcoin works so it’s not a crazy concept anymore, but a reality.”
— – Esbaitah

This news comes fresh off the heels of the Dubai Bitcoin Conference which brought government officials and industry leaders together for a 2 day conference in early December. Dubai-based bitcoin startup BitOasis, just launched its wallet beta earlier this month and is preparing for the launch of their exchange which is due in 2015.

“Although Bitcoin may seem revolutionary to traditional investors this has long been a region that is an early adopter of new technology and new trends”.