This Company Says Its Goal Is To Help Entry-Level Investors Get Into Commercial Real Estate With A Simple Platform

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In real estate, things change quickly.

Despite two years of bad economic news, investors are again turning to real estate to rebalance their portfolios. The issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities and commercial loan obligations has grown from $64.3 billion in 2020 to $154.6 billion in 2021, with total commercial and multifamily lending reaching a record of $690 billion last year, according to Trepp LLC, a commercial real estate data and insight provider.

In its Spring 2022 Occupier Sentiment Survey, CBRE Group Inc. CBRE found that while 52% of companies plan to reduce their office footprints over the next three years, 39% are still intending to expand their offices. Major commercial real estate firms like Cushman & Wakefield PLC CWK and Newmark Group Inc. NMRK are also coming out of the pandemic bullish about the future of the commercial real estate investment.

Entry-level investors can sometimes discover that acquiring a commercial property requires much more capital on the front end than investing in residential rental real estate. Add that dilemma to the large capital expenditures that usually follow a purchase, the chance for low returns, and limited flexibility, and many people feel shut out from the opportunities a commercial real estate investment can bring. 

One company that says it is attempting to open the playing field for smaller commercial real estate investors is Cincinnati-based AKRU, whose mission is to democratize commercial real estate investing.

AKRU reports that its overall goal is to make commercial real estate investing simple and accessible, and it has built a platform it says lowers barriers to entry investment with a seamless experience for both the investor and the owner. AKRU hopes to take a once-exclusive commercial real estate opportunity and allow people of all income levels to invest for as little as $1,000.

Founded in 2018, AKRU says it uses blockchain technology to create a secure and intuitive marketplace that allows experienced and inexperienced investors to take advantage of real estate investment opportunities for an extremely low entry threshold. AKRU’s proprietary website and tools are meant to enable investors to analyze investment opportunities directly, review detailed due diligence documents and decide what property to invest in to diversify their portfolios.

The company states that its technology divides properties into equal pieces and offers them for sale as digital securities called tokens, which represent ownership. The goal is to make investing more secure and give investors total control by letting them decide what to invest in and for how long.

Investors can deposit money into a digital wallet activated by a wire transfer from a bank account. Then, the AKRU secondary marketplace lets people list and sell their investment tokens with near-instant liquidity.

For more information on AKRU and its investment opportunities, visit www.akru.co.

This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice.