It's Going To Change Your World: Manchester Developer Claims U.K.'s First Blockchain Property Purchase

A Manchester developer is claiming to have completed the U.K.’s first residential property sale recorded using blockchain.

HS Property Group, a real estate investment and development firm based in Manchester, has used a blockchain platform to sell a four-bed multiple-occupancy house in Oldham for £116,500.

Blockchain — a computing tool which means the way one block of data is encrypted is dependent on the way previous and successive blocks of data are encrypted — is one of the tools underpinning cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The aim is to allow secure peer-to-peer transactions.

Blockchain — which has been hailed as revolutionary for the property market — helps facilitate a quicker and safer method of buying and selling property as all transactions, from making the offer through to a legally binding exchange of contracts, are recorded on an immutable ledger.

“The way we currently transact property is anachronistic, protracted and unreliable," HS Property Group Director Guy Horne said. "Using blockchain technology will be the future of property transactions. The speed and transparency it offers will democratise property investment worldwide.”

“One of the biggest problems the property industry faces is the length of time it takes to exchange contracts along with the lack of certainty," Clicktopurchase Chief Executive Neil Singer said. "Real estate transactions can be complex but by using blockchain the process is significantly quicker.” 

Trafford Park-based HS Property Group was founded in 2014 by Manchester Grammar School old boys Guy Horne and David Searle. They specialise in developing high-yielding residential investment property secured through long-term corporate leases with established social housing organisations.

HS Property has also developed a freehold, mixed-use block of offices and apartments at Tib Street, next to Affleck’s Palace in the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.