Rob Bould, past chairman of the Investment Property Forum and NED of IPSX, which will be the first fully regulated stock exchange globally to specialise in trading the securities of single commercial real estate (CRE) assets, sets out below the solutions and opportunities that its disruptive impact will provide in benefitting property owners as well as all investors seeking improved access and exposure to this important asset class.
IPSX’s arrival as the world’s first stock exchange dedicated to commercial real estate is imminent. But what does it mean in terms of revolution in the property industry, and major new opportunities for investors?
During my 40 year career in the real estate investment market, there have been a number of attempts to securitise commercial real estate to allow direct access for the wider investment world from the generic institution through to the retail investor and thereby democratise access to our ‘alternative’ asset class. From the work of the Barkshire Committee and NAPF in the late 80s the journey to the launch of REITs on the 1st January 2007 has been a long one but we are in rapidly changing times for the investment advisory market and the time is right for the next evolution.
At a point in time when proptech and fintech are ‘disrupting’ the real estate world more than ever before, a frequent observation shared with the IPSX team is that the launch of the world’s first fully regulated securities exchange dedicated to investment grade real estate couldn’t happen at a better time. After all, this ‘alternative’ asset class ranks alongside the largest and most aspirational in the world and deserves its own market.