The crowdfunding firm was founded by chartered surveyor James Nichols, who has 15 years of experience in real estate investment.
James is the company’s Financial Conduct Authority-authorised representative and is responsible for sourcing, acquisition and strategic asset management of investments for TRE.
TRE specialises in providing direct equity investment in UK commercial real estate, running a fully automated platform through which users can invest in with as little as £5,000.
Investing through TRE allows the user to purchase shares in individual assets as opposed to a pooled fund. Each traded asset is ring-fenced and separate from TRE’s other investments.
Commenting on the launch of TRE, James, who is the company’s investment director, said: “TRE was an idea developed as a result of seeing excellent deals that I personally would [have liked] to invest in myself, but [didn’t have] the resources to do so.
“Commercial real estate investment has previously been an arena only generally open to investors with significant equity at their disposal.
“This isn't a new way of doing business. Syndicated property has been happening for decades, but was always a closed shop to outsiders and was never open to the public.”
Along with their launch, TRE has announced it has secured bank funding and intends to purchase 43-45 Lever Street, a prime, city-centre commercial property in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. TRE is now looking to crowdfunding to raise the rest of the capital to complete the deal.
Commenting on the investment, James explained: “Acquiring 43-45 Lever Street will provide the perfect springboard to launch our unique crowdfunding platform.
“The UK property market remains one of the strongest in the world and the current low interest rates, low bond yields and volatile equities post-Brexit means this is an excellent alternative asset class for investors.
“Commercial property investment can provide stable and attractive returns even in tough market conditions if the fundamentals are right. As a company we are also committing our own capital in each property.”
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