Real estate financing becomes more digital and attracts new business

The year 2021 has registered records in the granting of real estate credit. According to data from Abecip (Association of Real Estate Credit and Savings Entities), from January to September, the amount financed by the SBPE (Brazilian Savings and Loan System), which uses resources from the savings account, was R$ 154.69 billion . The value is 96.3% higher than in the same period in 2020, and represents loans for 663.25 thousand properties.

The increase in interest in taking out credit comes from the heating registered in property sales and the historically lower value of mortgage interest rates, compared to previous years.

Real estate financing is not only attracting the consumer, but also companies that work with the purchase and sale of real estate.

In August, the Loft platform acquired the real estate credit intermediary CrediHome and QuintoAndar acquired Atta, which provides legal assistance for financing. “We could develop our own solutions, but the acquisition of Atta quickly adds additional expertise”, says Rafael Catelli, vice president of financial products at QuintoAndar.

In September, in the opposite direction, it was the Santander bank’s turn to acquire a real estate platform, the Apê11. According to Sandro Gamba, Santander’s real estate business director, the purchase is aimed at creating new products for the brand’s real estate ecosystem.

“Digital real estate companies and proptechs, which are investing in the real estate purchase and sale marketplace, have realized that this movement cannot be done without a super efficient credit transaction, otherwise the consumer may find the property and take a while to find financing, then the owner of the property gives up on the sale”, says Bruno Gama, founder and executive director of CrediHome. “These things need to be linked together.” The company does not reveal the value of the transaction with Loft.

There are also companies that have not made acquisitions in the real estate credit sector, but decided to pay more attention to the segment.

Xaza, which helps clients find the ideal property and also provides legal advice on the transaction, did not interfere with property financing until about 10 months ago, when its founder, Fernando Nekrycz, who is also a real estate lawyer, realized they were losing money by failing to do this.

“When a client called me and said he was having a problem with the financing, I realized that my knowledge as a lawyer allowed better traffic with financial institutions, which led me to believe that I left a lot of money on the table, I could have done it a long time ago “he says. During this period, Xaza has already intermediated more than R$ 20 million in financing contracts.

The Kzas Krédito platform was born without name credit, and with the purpose of helping clients find the right property for them, new or used. There was a credit segment in the business, but after two years of operation, its founders realized that this was where they should concentrate their activities.

“We understood that our credit analysis and purchasing power assessment machine was working very well and we decided that the best way was to tell the person the best credit to solve their problem and work with developers and real estate companies as partners”, says Eduardo Muszkat, co-founder and chief financial officer of the company.

They created a tool that allows brokers to make simulations of real estate financing through WhatsApp during client visits to properties, which allows the end client to better visualize the amount they can spend on the acquisition.

When intermediating the contracting of financing, companies receive a commission on the amount of credit. In addition to the direct financial result, participating in borrowing also helps to streamline the granting of this money and, consequently, to close deals faster, which is good for those who buy and sell the property.

Intermediation companies help the consumer to research the rates and terms offered by banks, understand all the charges involved in the financing process and gather the necessary documents.

A loan application, which can take 30 to 60 days to be granted, says Nekrycz, can be completed in just 15 to 20 days. Your company’s record was achieving it in one week.

CrediHome has a goal of completing such a transaction in just five days in the near future. “The idea is for you to apply for mortgage on Monday and get it on Friday, whereas a few years ago it took four to six months,” says Gama.

Another real estate business that has already realized the importance of this segment is the Lopes group, of real estate companies. He launched a joint venture with Itaú 13 years ago to do intermediation and also grant credit, CrediPronto.

The deal registered R$ 3 billion in financing in the first half of 2021, surpassing the entire amount of 2020, which was already a record year. Revenue was R$ 30.8 million in the second quarter of the year.

Cyro Naufel, institutional director at Lopes, points out that the real estate credit segment is relatively recent and that it is now maturing. It started to develop more in 1997, when the law that instituted the chattel mortgage was approved, which facilitates the repossession of the property in case of default.

“Today it seems that real estate financing has always existed, but before that it was seen by banks more as a burden than something profitable. [Agora] the bank looks and says ‘I can lend money to this guy and I’m going to keep him for 30 years, I can put credit cards and insurance’, it discovered that it’s a highly profitable customer, the best he has,” he says.

For Gama, it is a sector that has been evolving rapidly. About five years ago, for example, transactions were on paper, whereas today it is already possible to do the entire process over the internet.

Changes in the area, which tends to be increasingly technological, and the growing demand for financing allow the sector to accommodate more businesses than it has today, according to respondents.

“There is space, but the volume of investment in technology and the complexity of this is very high, it will end up reaching a part of the players, so we are very happy with Loft’s capacity to add value in technology,” stated Gama. CrediHome wants to take advantage of the platform’s support to also expand its own credit area, which today accounts for only 5% of the total traded in the business.

“The market in Brazil has five banks competing and half a dozen companies in intermediation. There is room for everyone, but it will absorb more those who have the best experience for the consumer and the fastest credit approval”, says Matheus de Souza Fabrício, executive director of the Lopes network.

The sector’s expectation is that credit remains very attractive while the Selic is in single digits.

After reaching a low of 2% per year, in the second half of last year and beginning of 2021, the rate is today at 7.75%, and the forecast is that it will end 2021 at 8.75%, reaching 9.75 % over 2022.

Although indirectly, this increase reaches mortgage rates. According to the Central Bank, the average rate charged in September was 7.93% per year.

“We are seeing a lot of anticipation of purchases. If you need to buy property, it is better to accelerate the purchase now than wait for next year, at each Copom meeting that you finance before, there will be savings,” says Fabrício.

Gamba, from Santander, explains that the credit lines linked to the TR, now zeroed, do not show an upward movement whenever the Selic rises. “Pre-fixed mortgage loan products linked to the TR do not have this immediate movement with Selic, and we only offer this credit”, he says. “Even with the recent rate hikes that have been made, there is plenty of opportunity in the market.”

Naufel analyzes that increased competition in the financing sector may make banks not fully transfer the Selic increase to real estate financing rates.

“It is a very important product from a strategic point of view, which is being attacked by fintechs and digital banks”, says Gama.