Author: Buy2Greece

Crowdfunding, or the use of raising equity or debt through online portals and social network contacts instead of through the regular medium of investment banks, partnerships and financial institutions, has grown much more significantly in 2014 than even its early supporters would have expected. Crowdfunding got its start on sites such as Kickstarter, which allowed inventors and artists to post an idea or project and allowed benefactors to fund them. No promises were made yet often the “investors or benefactors” received a product or service once available. This lack of a promised return opened up a sliver of a door crack in the highly regulated securities world.

The concept has now carried over to real estate, where the loosening of the laws defining how funds and private companies solicit investors in 2013 through changes to the US based Jumpstart Our Businesses (JOBS Act) has allowed crowdfunding to soar as a viable alternative to banks, traditional partnerships and institutional cash. New portals emerge monthly seeking some of the market share for serving this new way of funding enterprises. The websites allow potential investors can learn about and invest in a any scale real estate project from micro deals to the revitalization of a whole neighborhood. See for example, CityShares LLC’s Neighborhood Investment Fund which will invest in a basket of residential and mixed use properties in Brooklyn’s up and coming Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Although the portion of the JOBS act defining how funds can be raised through “nonaccredited investors,” or those incomes less than $200k per year or net worth less than $1MM have yet to be set, dozens of portals have already launched crowdfunding opportunities with as low as a $100 minimum investment.

Crowdnetic, a provider of technology and market data solutions to the global crowdfunding marketplace, found that from October 31, 2013 to May 31, 2014, the number of total crowdfunding portals or funds grew by 336.4% (Rand, 32). According to Nav Athwal, cofounder and CEO of RealtyShares, “Over the last year, crowdfunding for real estate platforms has been responsible for raising over $100 million for hundreds of real estate properties across the U.S.”

The funds work by creating a limited liability company for each property or project, through which investors can commit to funding a project once they have researched and completed internal due diligence. When sufficient commitments are reached the funding is required. Investors receive returns but with few promises, aside from revealing track records of prior investment returns from the same sponsor. Thus, the track record is key and it takes time to be able to pull down a larger funding, but some funds expect to soon approach $100 million via crowdfunding.

In addition to allowing those without significant means to become investors in a project, crowdfunding can also be used as a metric to show that there is community support for a specific project which may be valuable to getting regulatory approvals and permits, and arguing that any profits from a project will go to local pockets. The nature of real estate: tangible, regulated, and well defined by data, make it more compatible with crowdfunding than other type of venture or investments such as software development.

Currently, most portals are independent of specific properties or projects; that is, a developer would come to a portal and sign their project up funding through that specific portal. Fees tend to run 5% to 10% of funds raised plus legal costs for documentation, but this is rather modest compared to typical investment banking costs for start ups and smaller funds. Portals which opened just 2 years ago expecting to be working with 100 developers in a year have far surpassed their goals.

In the future some investment sponsors, developers and building owners may try and become portals themselves to gain direct funding for their projects. We will see a shake out in this industry in terms of portals and probably a few that will be more successful for real estate, but for now it is the wild west and every portal is out to be the last one standing. Industry insiders see the key challenge to crowdfunding’s growth as being the potential for a “bad apple” to tarnish the industry’s reputation. They believe this can be minimized through utilizing education, promotion, and public awareness. Transparency seems to be key to credibility and delivering on what is promised. Specialization by size and geography and property type will surely follow if crowdfunding continues to become a new favored form of capital raising.

Co-written by Brian Sanger, MSRE University of San Diego and Dr. Norm Miller, University of San Diego

VacayStay Connect (formerly Vacation Storebuilder), a distribution and digital marketing platform provider for the vacation rental industry, has announced the expansion of their partnership with HomeAway, Inc. (NASDAQ: AWAY), the world’s leading online marketplace for vacation rentals, to offer thousands of shared ownership resort properties for rent across the global HomeAway® network of sites, including HomeAway.com® and VRBO.com®.

The companies have been in collaboration since 2011 to provide online storefronts and digital marketing services to property management companies and vacation home owners. The expanded partnership offers a new shared ownership distribution channel to millions of leisure travelers who prefer a more home-like experience to traditional hotel stays while on vacation.

“In partnership with HomeAway (AWAY), our team has developed integrations that now enable travelers to book shared ownership resort accommodations online as easily as they would a hotel room,” said VacayStay Connect president and CEO Sunil Aluvila. “This is a large part of our strategy to help shared ownership resorts and homeowners’ associations with inventory so they may fill their accommodations with families looking to vacation in their resorts.”

VacayStay Connect’s technology platform enables integration with developers’ inventory and content management systems, making open reservation times immediately available for travelers to book accommodations online through the HomeAway network of sites.

“Together with VacayStay Connect, we can help timeshare and shared ownership resort developers reach a largely untapped segment of families and groups looking for a resort-style vacation,” said Jon Gray, senior vice president of HomeAway. “They are a great complement to the existing HomeAway vacation rental homes available to travelers and an excellent new distribution channel for timeshare resorts.”

“We are very excited to partner with VacayStay Connect to distribute our resorts’ inventory through the HomeAway Network, and to bring in new customers and connect them to a wide range of shared ownership resort properties they may not have considered before,” commented Jason Toste, Senior VP of Yield Management at Diamond Resorts.

Source: Press Release 

Nowcast combines industry data, proprietary company transactional data and Google Trends data to predict market trends accurately and in real time, Auction.com said. The report predicts real estate activity based on data modeling developed by Google Chief Economist Hal Varian

New Zealand’s tourism industry has made a promising start on achieving its 2025 goal but with strong international competition it can’t afford to be complacent, today’s 2014 TIA Summit has heard.

Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) Chief Executive Chris Roberts told Summit delegates that the industry needed to stay committed and aligned to achieve the Tourism 2025 goal of almost doubling total tourism revenue to $41 billion a year.

The annual target for growth in international visitor revenue was 6% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) but the actual growth was 7.4% last year, Mr Roberts said.

The domestic tourism target was 4% CAGR. However, growth was only 3.2% in the last 12 months.

“In total, we saw a 5% increase. So we’ve made a promising start but there’s a long way to go.”

The industry was undertaking a wide range of activities to bring Tourism 2025 to life, Mr Roberts said. These were being highlighted on the Tourism 2025 In Action blog.

However, there were many more opportunities the industry could exploit, such as growing New Zealand’s air connectivity. A recent International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecast projected that air routes to, from and within the Asia-Pacific would see an extra 1.8 billion annual passengers by 2034. New Zealand needed to ensure it had the infrastructure and tourism products available to get its share of that growth.

Planned convention centres and the cruise sector offered huge opportunities but New Zealand needed to attract more infrastructure investment.

“The China market continues to evolve at a rapid pace. 100 million Chinese will travel overseas this year and that is expected to double to 200 million by 2020. We need to keep thinking about who we are targeting in China and in emerging markets because every other destination is also eyeing these big prizes,” Mr Roberts said.

TIA was leading a project with the aim of ensuring that the tourism industry had the workers it would need to host growing visitor numbers so that visitors would have outstanding experiences.

“Tourism can and should deliver increased economic activity, jobs and business opportunities and add vibrancy to our communities across the country. But dozens of global destinations are targeting the same opportunities as New Zealand.

“But with the right commitment, alignment and policy settings, our industry can reach its 2025 goals and make an even greater contribution to New Zealand’s overall wellbeing.”

MSC Cruises and the LEGO Group have joined forces to create the shipboard LEGO® playrooms and entertainment options for families with children.

Under the agreement, the LEGO Group will design new play areas on MSC Armonia which is being renewed and lengthened under MSC Cruises’ ambitious Renaissance Programme*.

MSC guests will have the opportunity to discover it from November.  The LEGO Group will supply a broad selection of its world-famous construction toys and games, which are certain to capture the creative imagination of the young and young-at-heart, from 0 – 99 years old.

The agreement comes as MSC Cruises seeks to optimize the overall onboard experience for guest and families by partnering with top global brands that are emblems of excellence in their fields.

MSC Cruises has long made the LEGO toys available on all 12 ships in the fleet, but this is an opportunity to bring MSC guests more dedicated products and areas for younger travellers.

Among a raft of enhancements to create unforgettable, fun and stress-free family cruises, the Renaissance ships will have separate clubs and facilities for five age groups, namely Baby (under 3s); Mini (3-6); Junior (7-11);Young (12-14) and Teen (15-17). A video is now available that describes the Lego experience on board.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) tourism remained a strong industry worldwide as international arrivals grew by 5 percent in the first eight months of 2014 amid geopolitical challenges and lingering concerns over the recovery of the global economy.

Global tourists traveling from January to August 2014 reached 781 million—36 million more than that recorded in the same period of 2013, based on the latest UN agency’s World Tourism Barometer.

June, July and August – the three northern hemisphere summer months account for approximately a third of annual tourist arrivals. The global tourism industry remains on track for another record-breaking year, following a rise in international visitor numbers during these key summer months. And this year the world saw a 4% increase in cross-border travel during the summer period, compared to 2013.

Tourist influx rose at the fastest rate in the Americas, where numbers were up by 8% in the first eight months of the year, followed by Asia Pacific (+5%) and Europe (+4%). By sub-region, North America (+9%) and South Asia (+8%) were the star performers, as well as Mediterranean Europe, Northern Europe, Northeast Asia and South America (all +7%).
Southeast Asia’s arrivals growth slowed to just +2%, while Africa and the Middle East both experienced 3% growth, despite their problems. China has reinforced its position as leading visitor source market at 16 percent in 2014.

Among the world’s top 10 source markets outbound travel growth was highest in China (+16%), France (+10%), Italy (+8%), the US (+6%), Brazil (+5%) and Russia (+4%). India also showed remarkable growth, with a 31% rise in outbound numbers the UNWTO stated.
For the full year 2014, global tourist arrivals are expected to increase by 4% to 4.5%, compared to last year’s record total of 1.09bn. The Philippines, on its part, expects tourist arrivals to reach 6 million this year and 10 million by 2016.

A 50-year roadmap for the future of adventure travel and responsible tourism will be explored during World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry.

Issues, policies and trends in the adventure travel sector will be debated across two days, rounded off by a networking event for operators, agents, destinations, tourism boards, equipment brands and the media.

Chris Doyle, Executive Director – Europe, Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), will lead the first session, entitled ‘Pioneering the Next 50 Years, Today’.

Organised by ATTA, the debate will consider a new 50-year path for responsible tourism and ways to tackle the problems faced today.

Doyle said: “We must acknowledge today’s existing barriers and challenge faulty institutional models and systems.

“It is time to explore a new course of action, designed to help our entire leisure tourism industry…to reconsider, re-frame and re-invent how it views development and capacity.

“We will take a deeper look at how purposeful shifts in policy and development can contribute to an economically prosperous future for the entire tourism supply chain.”

The session will take place from 1pm to 2pm on Wednesday 5 November in Platinum Suite 3 and 4.

Doyle will also take part in the three-part adventure travel programme on Thursday 6 November.

The first session is called ‘Condensed Adventure Travel Trends for the Travel Professional’, and will feature Doyle, along with Lyn Hughes, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief at Wanderlust Magazine, and Ulrika Larsson, ATTA Member Advocate Europe for AdventureConnect.

Taking place from 10am to 11am, it will offer delegates the chance to hear about adventure travel trends and research.

Doyle commented: “Hot topics include market shifts, digital marketing, traveller lifestyle and motivation, youth markets and mobile booking.

“We’ll make sure delegates receive valuable insights on how to frame these issues within their businesses.”

The second session, from 11am to noon, will see Doyle leading a forum debating the issues in his earlier presentation, ‘Pioneering the Next 50 Years, Today’.

The third and final element of Thursday’s programme, from noon to 1pm, is part of the ‘AdventureConnect’ calendar of networking events organised by ATTA.

It will feature nibbles and drinks, and the chance for those in the industry to network.

All the events on 6 November will be in South Gallery 19-20.

World Travel Market Senior Director Simon Press said: “As we are marking the 35th WTM this year, we have been looking at the next 35 years in travel and discussing what the future might hold.

“It’s great that the adventure travel sector is also taking a long-term view and is debating sustainable policies that could shape the industry for the next 50 years.

“The Adventure Travel Trade Association serves more than 900 members in 80 countries, and so it is the ideal partner for us.

“The sessions being run by ATTA will certainly help delegates to achieve their goals in business, while supporting the wider industry on the road to a responsible and profitable future.”