Data from the Spanish real estate market shows that interest in the sector has increased 400% since November as it has become a safe haven for investors amid the macroeconomic instability, inflation, and price rises aggravated by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
When one considers the short-term impact that inflation and the war in Ukraine have on other segments of the global economy, such as the stock market, real estate becomes an attractive place to invest as it is currently a very solvent refuge value in the face of uncertainty, according to data gathered by Inviertis a firm that allows clients to invest in rented properties reports Europa Press.
Some investors have even moved funds from other, potentially riskier investments, such as stocks and cryptocurrencies, in order to seek safety in the real estate market.
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Rebeca Pérez, CEO and founder of Inviertis, explained:
“Investors are withdrawing everything they had on the stock exchange and are investing in real estate to preserve their assets, a situation that has been accentuated since the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.”
Crypto gains prominence in the sector
Ordinarily, real estate attracts modest investors who do not usually trade in the crypto market. However, having seen their money dwindle in banks, some investors are beginning to resort to cryptocurrencies within real estate investment, with an accentuation of this trend in the last two months.
As Pérez points out, the main advantage of using cryptocurrencies to buy real estate “is that you turn a risky investment into a conservative one and, if you were lucky enough to enter the crypto world in 2012, for example, you can buy a home for the €200 at the time.”
She did, however, state that there are administrative issues:
“The drawbacks are, above all, of an administrative nature, such as how to set the price of bitcoin, how to make the transaction, how to properly inform the notary or how to regularize the transaction before the Public Treasury.”
Crypto usage in real estate still at an early stage
Vicenç Hernández Reche, an advisor to Inviertis and executive director of the mortgage management and formalization business Tecnotramit, has acknowledged that the usage of cryptocurrencies in the real estate industry is “still at a very early stage.”
“It is one thing to use them as a speculative investment, such as the one that buys dollars or gold, and quite another to do it as a currency of exchange for real estate. Surely, as its use and adaptation by intermediaries, financial institutions, notaries, and property registrars, among others, increases, we will be able to see more widespread use of cryptocurrencies.”
Elsewhere, in the U.S. Justin Bieber’s manager sold a mansion for $18.5 million in Bitcoin just two months ago while New York-based real estate brokerage firm Algocap Real Estate announced last year it would start accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum for transactions.
