The "real estate + Internet + finance" model is coming

"Real estate is poor, finance is booming", brokerage reports all summarize the current trend in this way. Under the hot word "Internet +", the financial sense of real estate companies is gradually being activated.

Oceanwide Holdings, owned by Lu Zhiqiang, took the lead in sounding the clarion call to enter Internet finance. On the eve of the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, Oceanwide Holdings acquired 73% of the equity of Minsheng Securities, a subsidiary of Oceanwide, in cash. It officially entered the three major business areas of securities, trusts and insurance, and aimed at the "full financial license" that is envied by the outside world.

Those who are not willing to show weakness choose to join forces and join forces. Almost at the same time, the "Real Estate Bao" platform, which combines the three major elements of Internet finance and real estate, was launched. Behind it were giants such as Greenland, Alibaba, and Ping An of China. Wanda, which has entered its fourth transformation period, has also incorporated the financial sector into the group's main business. At present, Wanda Internet Financial Group has been established and is preparing to inject quick money assets.

Internet finance, which originated in Europe and the United States and has swept the market in China in just a few years, is becoming a hot topic sought after by more and more real estate companies. The competition between real estate companies is no longer limited to conventional mergers and acquisitions. The "real estate + Internet + finance" operating model is becoming one of the standard features for the winners in this tug-of-war.

The question is, successful cases cannot be easily found. How can the influx of early adopters stand out in this close-to-hand struggle?

Industry? Ceiling? Forced

?The residential market cannot grow forever. Within 10 years, we will see the ceiling of the industry. ?As early as two years ago, Vanke President Yu Liang made the conclusion that the industry is ceiling. Since then, Vanke has been groping for a movement called Internet Thinking.

Internet finance is part of Vanke’s new story, and it is also an outlet pursued by more and more real estate companies. They have reached a consensus: In the second half of the development of the real estate industry, the Internet may subvert this traditional industry.

A Times Weekly reporter found that at present, Internet financial platforms for the real estate industry generally introduce different models such as conventional P2P, P2B, P2W, crowdfunding models, supply chain finance, and community O2O. The portal serves the financial needs of transactions such as buying, selling, decorating, and renting a house. Among them, the connection between real estate and the Internet is mostly limited to the marketing link in the downstream of the industry chain, and the relationship with finance is mainly reflected in the financing in the upstream of the industry chain.

Starting from the marketing port to selling houses in the O2O model, coupled with some financial value-added services, is a path that some real estate companies are willing to take. Fortunately, Franshion Real Estate, which has launched dual real estate e-commerce platforms, is proving the feasibility of this path.

With the help of the "touch network" marketing at the end of last year, Franshion Real Estate has obviously tasted the "sweetness". The total sales in November and December 2014 were 7.525 billion yuan, accounting for more than 40% of its annual sales of 21.5 billion yuan. In March this year, Franshion Real Estate made a new move. It teamed up with Ant Financial to launch the Yu’e Bao home purchase project on Taobao.

“It’s a huge profit,” Zhang Hongwei, director of the research department of Tongce Consulting, exclaimed to a Times Weekly reporter. “Real estate companies can capture the market’s attention without investing any advertising costs. No matter how the real estate financial products change, The primary purpose is to use the Internet platform to lock in your target customer base. ?

In the view of Huang Lichong, director of Hong Kong Guangdong Securities Investment Bank, the first starting point for developers to test the waters of Internet finance is to create concepts. The cooperation between Vanke and Tencent, and the cooperation between R&F and E-House are all examples of real estate companies bundling platforms to rely on O2O.

At present, the grafting of real estate and finance is still in the initial stage of cooperation, but this does not prevent real estate e-commerce companies from taking it as the next main battlefield for competition, such as Soufun and Leju, etc., which have already targeted real estate. All aspects of transaction. In addition, there are an endless stream of third-party platforms vying for a piece of this big cake, each with their own strengths.

The ability to attract customers online with high accuracy and overall Internet operation capabilities are what real estate companies lack. Baichou.com CEO Wang Qiming told a reporter from Times Weekly that the technology industry has specializations. The advantage of real estate companies is in the real estate business, but we have Internet genes, and our team members have direct access to Stanford and Silicon Valley. ?

Huang Shiqiao, CEO of Touzhijia, gave another example of survival using Wangdaizhijia as an example.

As one of the earliest Internet financial platforms, Wangdaizhijia has an Internet financial portal and user portal, and has professional data and risk control capabilities. ? Huang Shiqiao told a reporter from Times Weekly that risk control capabilities are the core of a platform. Three-party cooperation between real estate companies and those mainly engaged in Internet financial business can be more conducive to the integrated operation of the platform.

Hidden Game

The Internet specializes in all kinds of dissatisfaction. This is the firm judgment made by IT critic Hong Bo. But no matter how beautiful a story is, it must always follow the business logic that can identify the story.

Judging from the current situation, real estate companies’ involvement in Internet finance mainly rely on third-party platforms and are highly dependent. In addition, most developers that have relied on the pure retail sales model for a long time are faced with the dilemma of insufficient asset holding and operating capabilities, high asset costs, and low yields. What can be seen is that in the short term, Internet finance in the real estate field is still concentrated on short- and medium-term investment projects such as pre-sale funds, sales revenue, accounts receivable, and corporate financing.

In the current real estate field where empiricism prevails, there is no confirmed success case, which has become the key to the shackles of many small and medium-sized real estate companies that do not dare to get involved in Internet finance.

?The company currently doesn’t know how to do Internet finance, so it doesn’t dare to do it yet. ? Jingrui Real Estate Marketing Manager Fan Suan lamented to a reporter from Times Weekly that real estate companies doing Internet finance themselves have to worry about the possibility of adjusting the overall organizational structure. Enterprises cannot fall into the field of speculation simply for the sake of transformation. This cannot be achieved overnight and requires time to accumulate. There is also waiting for the cost of the asset to come down. Only when the return on assets rises can a broad and stable market be created. ?

However, if they want to occupy a place in the Internet finance field, real estate companies still need to build a platform as soon as possible.

The cost is not very high, and it can also reduce the division of third-party interests. Chen Qifeng, a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, told Times Weekly reporters that real estate companies have a better understanding of the real estate asset portfolio. Profoundly, it has a greater say in the process of value mining and innovation, and can form a larger ecosystem with the help of network platforms, which is unmatched by financial institutions. The real estate companies’ own platforms can be promoted appropriately with the help of institutions with more financial guarantees such as Lufax, China Merchants E-Loan, and Minsheng Yidai.

Becoming a third party yourself is what Oceanwide Holdings is trying to do. When taking control of Minsheng Securities, Han Xiaosheng, chairman of Oceanwide Construction, once said that the company's financial business will still develop in the direction of full financial licenses in the long run, and securities licenses are the first. In the future, it is expected that financial companies holding banking, trust, insurance and other licenses will become listed companies.

? Before there are systemic risks in Internet finance, it depends on which real estate company is willing to be bold. ?An insider from Sina Finance lamented to a Times Weekly reporter.

Chasing the blue ocean of asset securitization

Behind the rise of Internet finance, there is actually a more profound meaning hidden.

? If there is a stable cash flow, securitize it. ?This is a famous saying once circulated on Wall Street, and this has always been the dream of real estate companies. In the eyes of Greenland Chairman Zhang Yuliang, Greenland's "Real Estate Treasure" is a bold attempt for real estate companies to independently test the waters of asset securitization.