BLOCKCHAIN—CHANGING REAL ESTATE FOR THE BETTER
Real estate has drastically changed over the years with the aid of technology. Right from big data and AI to augmented reality and now blockchain, this industry is keeping pace with technological advancements, and thereby, reaping the rewards.
Blockchain technology is being adopted by many in the real estate sector today. Synonymous with a global database, and known as a digital public ledger, blockchain allows you to make transactions without a middleman like a bank or a central verifying authority. Furthermore, it maintains a digital record of these transactions.
One of the top reasons why blockchain is gaining momentum is due to the transparency it offers. Since it works as a public ledger, there is little or no room for fraud. Transparency is one of our core values at BHADRA, and we ensure that our transactions are free of ambiguity. With blockchain, transparency becomes easier, and therefore BHADRA is looking forward to the blockchain technology.
The first time blockchain technology was used in real estate, was in 2016 in Sweden. It involved a partnership between a blockchain start-up called ChromaWay, the Swedish Land Registry, Telia, a telecommunications service and a consulting firm called Kairos Future. This partnership proved to be a success, and ever since, blockchain technology is being embraced for property transactions, registrations, and storage of information.
In the context of Indian real estate, property fraud is on the rise. Research suggests that close to $700 million is being lost to fraud in India, and two thirds of all the civil cases are related to the same. The best way to combat fraudulent activity is by ensuring a system that is transparent, and open to the public eye—blockchain offers you that platform. With the help of blockchain, the Indian real estate industry will see an incline towards the elimination of title fraud, because no one can make changes to the blocks. This means the full transaction history and information is on the chain and gone into records, with no scope to forge property papers.
Transparency is not the only benefit. With blockchain, the use of go-betweens like brokers and lawyers is significantly lowered, as it follows a peer to peer model that involves only the seller and buyer. This makes it more cost-effective, so your transaction cost is invariably lowered as well.
Settlements are quicker and hassle free. The parties that are involved—the buyer and the seller, can enjoy geographical freedom and be at any location, as everything is digital and online. There is no central location, as the software is a digital public ledger that can be accessed from anyone’s computer. Since all the data is stored online, the necessary documents, personal data, and files can be retrieved anytime and anywhere. Thanks to the data management feature, you can’t lose any data as well.
Blockchain uses a smart contract, which is a digitally signed contract with the terms of agreement, that both the parties can sign, using e-signatures. This contract is unambiguous and not subject to breach, as the blockchain system is structured in such a way that makes it impossible.
In the Indian real estate market, blockchain is still in its nascent stage. However, with blockchain, our contribution to a straightforward system will be made easy.
BHADRA believes that perfection builds quality, and this holds good in all aspects, including transparency, and a clear system. With blockchain technology, we look forward to an ecosystem that offers transparency, robust engineering, deep rooted values, and timely delivery. We believe that blockchain is a sure-fire way to ensure that BHADRA delivers this promise. Customers are always our first priority, and we ensure safe and secure transactions that are accessible and trackable. We look forward to the advent of blockchain in India, which will give a facelift to the Indian real estate industry.
