About the author
Jane Slack-Smith has been named one of the Top 10 Property Experts in Australia by Money Magazine, one of the Top 4 Financial Influencers by Qantas and been awarded the Australia’s Mortgage Broker of the Year twice.

Property investors need to take note of some changes that NSW’s government wants to introduce. The state hopes to make all property transactions digital by 2019.

At the moment, there aren’t any solid plans in place for how NSW will do this. However, one arm of the state’s government had geared up to test blockchain technology.

For those who aren’t aware, blockchain technology lies at the heart of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. It essentially involves the storing of a database of transaction records across a huge network. That network updates every time a transaction takes place. It’s decentralised, which means there’s no risk of the database getting lost. Plus, it’s considered one of the most transparent methods of making transactions.

It’s the technology that NSW’s Land Registry Services hopes to launch a proof-of-concept (PoC) for in the near future.

They’ll cooperate with ChromaWay, which is a Swedish technology company. The PoC will take place on ChromaWay’s blockchain platform. We can also expect the results of the trial by the end of the year.

This would mark a huge shift away from the current method of recording land transactions. Currently, every transaction gets recorded manually before getting added into a public register.

However, the move to blockchain technology would change all of this. Upon completion of the digitisation process, paper contracts may no longer be valid.
This is a concern for property investors in NSW. Should the PoC prove successful, you may have some changes to make come 2019.

We’ll keep track of this news as it develops. What we do know is that property investors in NSW have to prepare for some form of digitisation in 2019.
The shift to digitisation won’t affect the techniques you use to invest in property.