Real estate is one of the most meaningful economic and personal experiences people have: where we live, work, build communities, and invest for the future. Yet for all its significance, it remains one of the most digitally underserved and financially inaccessible sectors in the Philippines.
In this 2021 talk, I explored how property technology (“PropTech”) can reshape the country’s real estate landscape by embedding financial services and unlocking inclusive participation. The opportunity is enormous: real estate is the second-largest asset class in the world, and in the Philippines it continues to experience strong demand and growth. But it is also illiquid, costly, and accessible to only a very small segment of the population.
Why Tokenization Matters#
Our hypothesis is simple: the future belongs to invisible, embedded financial services, financial capabilities built seamlessly into the experiences that matter most. Real estate is exactly such an experience. That belief led us to develop a platform for tokenizing real estate assets, breaking a property into digital, fractionalized tokens that investors can buy, trade, and hold just like any other financial asset.
Tokenization promises three major benefits:#
1. Liquidity Real estate in the Philippines is still largely illiquid, with limited participation even in REITs. Digitally tradable tokens can unlock a secondary market and bring flexibility to a traditionally rigid asset class.
2. Lower Costs High transaction costs—taxes, fees, commissions—add substantial friction. Tokenization creates room for more transparent and streamlined processes.
3. Democratization Today, real estate investing is binary: you buy the whole thing, or you don’t. Fractional ownership lets ordinary Filipinos participate in the country’s fastest-growing asset class, often for the first time.
What We Built#
The venture described in the video (temporarily paused due to the pandemic) consisted of three layers:
- A digital marketplace with wallet, KYC, and investment onboarding
- A tokenization engine that fractionalizes vetted properties and automates yields, income distribution, and rights through smart contracts
- A secondary trading market powered through our strategic partnership and investment in a BSP-regulated digital asset exchange (e.g. PDAX)
To support this ecosystem, we also integrated lending, insurance, and seamless cash-in/cash-out services—embedding financial services directly within the real estate experience.
The Barriers That Remain#
Tokenization is still in its infancy globally. While the technology is proven, the real challenges lie in:
- Testing the market’s actual appetite for tokenized real estate
- Structuring appropriate intermediate vehicles (contracts, long-term leaseholds, SPVs) that can legally be tokenized
- Evolving regulatory frameworks to support crowdfunding, digital asset exchanges, and potentially even blockchain-based titles in the future
The Philippines has the opportunity to leapfrog if regulators, property developers, fintechs, and investors move thoughtfully and collaboratively.
A Path Toward Inclusive Prosperity#
Ultimately, PropTech is not simply about technology, it is about economic participation. If we can solve the structural, legal, and regulatory challenges, we can open the doors of real estate investing to millions more Filipinos.
That is the promise of PropTech and the reason we continue to explore this space: to move the country toward a future where real estate is not just a privilege for the few, but an accessible investment opportunity for the many.