Melbourne-Based Investorist Takes Real Estate B2B

As more people move into cities, apartment living is becoming the norm. In cities around the world, apartment buildings are going up, and tenants are lining up to buy or rent.

What most people don’t realize is that 70% of apartment sales are “off-the-plan” and are bought by investors. Off-the-plan property sales simply mean the apartment is sold before it is built, often a year or more before. Most of these deals are investors advised by accountants or financial planners.

It’s those professionals–accountants and financial planners–that the new platform Investorist is targeting.

Founder Jon Ellis has a lot of experience with off the plan sales, as he was a marketing executive for several companies dealing in these properties.

“I wish I could say it was a light bulb moment, but the truth is I just set out to fix a problem everyone in development has the world over,” Ellis told us. “There was no central location for aggregating off the plan property, no place for sellers and network partners to connect directly, no place for developers to share and expose their projects, and no place for network partners to compare and manage stock.”

Of course, there are other websites that offer off the plan listings. In Australia, realestate.com.au is one such site. Investorist is unique, though, because they are built specifically as a B2B platform. They cater not to the investor, but to the accountant, financial planner, or real estate agent who advises the investor.

They are also proud of the how the platform helps developers market their property. Because the site offers an experience similar to online shopping, properties look great, increasing the chances of a sale.

Investorist is growing fast. After just two months, they have $2.7 billion of stock listed on the site and 1,300 members. By the end of 2013, they expect to have the largest aggregation of off the plan property in Australia. Next year they will consider expansion overseas, namely Europe and the United States.

Find out more about Investorist on their website.