Finnish real estate agency Blok has annouced it is digitalizing their sales closing events. This means the buyer and seller of an apartment can now complete the transaction remotely through Blok's web service. The parties sign the sales contract online and the system handles all related money and document transactions.
In past years Finnish homeowners have been annoyed by long waiting times to close real estate purchases. With the introduction of the digital apartment sales system (DIAS), a trading system developed jointly by Tomorrow Tech and the biggest banks in Finland, real estate transaction can now be closed online. Blok has joined DIAS as the first bank-independent real estate agency.
Blok's aim is to move three-quarters of apartment sales online by the end of 2019. "We would love to see this at 100%, but there are still some restrictions on DIAS which hold us back" says Blok CEO Rudi Skogman.
With the DIAS system the real estate agent prepares and uploads the sales contract to the system. When both parties of the deal have identified themselves and signed the contract the sellers' and buyers' banks carry out the transfer of money and the ownership share. Transfer tax and the real estate agent commission is also paid during the process.
“We've been waiting for DIAS ever since we started Blok, because it's a great fit for our service. At Blok, valuation, commissioning and bidding are already done 100% digitally and our customer base is very digitally oriented. The previous arrangement of queuing for time to the bank, ordering physical share certificates from vaults and walking to bank offices to sign papers is a thing of the past, ”Skogman adds.
The first DIAS deal was completed by Blok on September 25th, 2019.
Founded in 2017, Blok is Finland's first fully digital real estate agency. Blok operates in 35 localities in Finland and sells thousands of apartments each year.
What kind of real estate transactions can be done digitally through DIAS?
All sellers have the same bank, and the bank is using DIAS (OP, Danske Bank, Aktia, S-Pankki, Nordea, Handelsbanken, POP Pankki, Hypo ja OmaSP)
All buyers have the same bank and the bank uses DIAS
The buyers have financing from the bank
Buyers and sellers are individuals (not companies or estates)
The transaction is carried out with a single sales contract
There is one payment installment to which the transfer of ownership is linked
There is no redemption clause in the housing company
The housing company's stock list is not transferred to the Apartment Information System (HTJ)
Updated 9.12.2020: Added information that DIAS is now available for customers of POP Pankki, Hypo and OmaSP. Removed requirement that the share is held by the seller's bank.
