By leveraging the power of crowd sourcing, individuals can band together to buy an investment property and benefit from a hassle-free income as well as the potential for capital growth.

Over the past few decades, investment property has become one of the most appealing ways to fast-track your retirement savings. Significant value increases during property cycles have seen property prices double every decade.

Many hundreds of thousands of Kiwis have jumped on board and bought a rental property, which many like to think of as a retirement nest egg. The logic being, the tenants’ weekly rent will cover the mortgage payments and outgoings, and the value of the property will rise inexorably to deliver that retirement nest egg.

The past three decades have been a golden harvest for property investors, however recent dark clouds on the horizon have started to dampen enthusiasm. Legislative changes are placing ever more onerous requirements on private landlords to provide a higher standard of accommodation, added to which are tighter constraints on lending from the banks, and the likely removal of taxable deductions.

These dark clouds are pushing many property investors to ask. Is it all worth it? Just as the future appears to be looking ever bleaker, a new ray of light emerges: An option that allows a great number of people to invest in property, but with more flexibility and less stress.

The Property Crowd, a newly established operation allows ordinary Kiwis with as little as $100 to buy a portion of a rental property and benefit from the rental income and any potential capital growth.

Such a model has never been available here in New Zealand until now. Technology matched to a new revised approach, supported by the Financial Markets Authority, enables The Property Crowd to bring a whole new mode of property investment to New Zealand, mirroring similar models across the world.

Simply put, The Property Crowd provides a platform to allow a crowd of small investors to buy a rental property outright with no bank lending, so the rental income becomes real income. These properties are professionally managed, thereby removing the biggest headache for many property investors.

By diversifying and buying PropertyShares in a number of rental properties, investors can reduce risk and take the opportunity to invest across different property markets around the country, with far less capital required than outright ownership.

For the newbie property investor, or for investors simply looking for a less hands on responsibility in managing a rental property, The Property Crowd is the perfect opportunity for passive income for low capital outlay.

When the time comes to exit and cash up, the plan is to give investors the opportunity to sell their shares to other members of the Crowd. The Resale Market has been built and is currently awaiting final approval from the Financial Markets Authority. By creating a unique marketplace to allow buyers and sellers to interact and trade, for the first time

The Property Crowd hopes to create real liquidity in the property market. As demand grows, new properties can be offered to new and existing members as well as potentially trading existing shares, as members seek to balance their investment portfolios, bolstering their portfolio or cashing out. Such liquidity has never before been a feature of the property market.

For the first time we plan to give individuals the ability to build a true property portfolio, mirroring the appeal of the share market, but leveraging the average Kiwi’s love of the good old brick and mortar investment, that they can see and touch. The Property Crowd, a new, highly innovative approach to property investing is now open for business.