Uncertainty surrounding commercial real estate has caused major banks and the RBA to reassess the financial stability of the sector—leading to concern for borrowers and lenders alike.
The economic fallout from Covid-19 and credit restrictions as a result of APRA-imposed lending curbs have led to a drop in the volume of residential and commercial transactions.
However, new technology has enabled the industry to carve through the chaos and move forward on acquisitions and development opportunities.
Online marketplaces have proved popular in the residential sector and a new platform called FundMKT has filled the void in the commercial real estate industry.
FundMKT co-founder Rowan Pollard said Covid-19 had just added to the fragmented relationships for major lenders, so non-bank lenders picked up the slack.
“Coming from a development and funds management background, FundMKT was established in direct response to the credit squeeze created during the Banking Royal Commission in order to increase access to commercial real estate funding,” Pollard said.
“With such a fragmented commercial real estate funding industry, it is impossible to identify and meet with all financiers”
The end-to-end marketplace creates a space where borrowers and lenders can procure and manage their project funding requirements.
More than 160 commercial real estate financiers have joined the online marketplace.
“It benefits financiers by providing deal flow matched to their lending criteria through a comprehensive online application and supporting documentation, in a consistent format which reduces the time required to assess each funding opportunity,” Pollard said.
“FundMKT also allows borrowers to control the entire funding process through our transparent online platform which allows borrowers to assess all funding solutions side-by-side and select the funding solution that best matches their specific requirements.
“Algorithms match the borrowers key requirements with each financier's funding criteria thereby ensuring that applications are only submitted to matched financiers that are willing to assess the opportunity.”
FundMKT ensures that multiple financiers can review an application simultaneously through the submission of a single online application of a borrower, saving both valuable time and money.
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