Lonsdale has struck up an arrangement with international property group CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) to source direct property opportunities for its clients.
“Effectively, what CBRE will do is be able to source residential property opportunities on behalf of clients of our advisers,” Lonsdale chief executive Mario Modica told InvestorDaily.
“Our advisers aren’t authorised to give direct property advice so if they identified the client requires some property exposure, or would like property exposure in the residential sense, then this creates an opportunity to make a referral and be looked after by a professional firm such as CBRE.”
The partnership will allow Lonsdale’s clients access to projects which they wouldn’t otherwise have access to, Modica said.
“We identified that there was a real opportunity in the financial planner space for direct residential property,” he said.
“So there’s a thirst for it and there’s a need for it. The need is not going to set the world on fire immediately, but I do think that for those planners who do have clients who would like some exposure to residential property, this is a great solution.”
Modica said the initiative, which was launched earlier this month, had been well received by Lonsdale’s advisers.
“It’s been pretty good – there have been a number of people that have taken up the opportunity to create a referral agreement with CBRE,” he said.
“Even before we launched it formally I spoke about it at a professional development day and off the back of that we got three enquiries immediately.”
