Cryptocurrencies have fuelled demand for real estate investments as early adopter investors who grew rich from digital currency look to diversify their assets.
Early-stage adopters of cryptocurrency have suddenly seen their assets surge, making them multi-millionaires or “crypto-rich as we call them,” said Paula Wehbeh-Gambrell, Chief Executive Officer-Strategy, Ellington Properties.
“Now, these people want to diversify and hence invest in properties whether it’s for them, a family home for their kids, or for purely investment purposes,” said Wehbeh-Gambrell. While most transactions are still made the old-fashioned way, a few investors have begun to look to make purchases by converting cryptocurrency.
“So that automatically opened up and impacted the real estate market because you had this new wealth that suddenly came up, especially if you look at the wealth that came in from China, Switzerland or Poland for example,” she continued.
Being one of the early adopters of cryptocurrencies, Chinese investors are increasingly looking at investing in Dubai’s property market, explained Wehbeh-Gambrell. Chinese investment in the city’s real estate industry has been on the rise over the past seven years, she said.
Cryptocurrencies have generally made property transactions simpler and faster by cutting out the middle entities which process the payments and charge you fees in the process, said Wehbeh-Gambrell.
source: arab business
