Kiwis offered chance to buy shares in $1 million Auckland house in new investment scheme

There’s no doubt it’s a gloomy outlook for first-home buyers right now, but an Auckland start-up hopes to fix that.

Opoly wants to level the playing field for people priced out of the housing market, and attract a new wave of investors who will buy shares in a property, rather than the whole thing.

“It’s not the same as owning an entire property yourself, but it’s a way to grow your savings with the property market; to get a foot on the ladder and not be left behind by increasing house prices,” says founder and CEO Felix Watkins.

Like many young Kiwis, investor Sam Walsh has all but given up getting on the property ladder.

“I’ve tried, and I’ve gotten close a couple of times, but it gets harder and harder every year, especially with properties rising the way that they are,” he says.

But Watkins says millennials like himself and Walsh can have their avocado toast and eat it too.

“What we’re looking to do is make investing much more mainstream, and make the barriers to entry much lower.”