PEXA to enhance offering to property developers with investment in OPEX

PEXA Group Limited (ASX:PXA), operator of the world’s first digital property exchange platform, has today   announced it has acquired a minority interest in OPEX – a cloud-based platform that connects law firms, developers, purchasers, real estate agents and financiers with digital contracts in real time.

OPEX is a success story stemming from PEXA’s Launchpad program, an initiative designed by PEXA for Australian start-ups that have developed a product or service that can significantly transform the experience of consumers, businesses or government departments within the property sector. Together with PEXA’s existing platform for property projects, the investment in OPEX will enable an end-to-end transaction workflow, from digital contract exchange through to e-settlement. The platform delivers efficiencies to law firms and conveyancing teams, while giving their property developer clients, agents and banks real-time visibility over the progress of property sales.

Founded in 2022, OPEX was originally proprietary technology of boutique property law firm, Bugden Allen Graham Lawyers who successfully used the platform to manage the sales of over 3,000 properties in New South Wales and Queensland. The latest version of OPEX officially launched in February, and has already secured signed commitments from seven leading law firms to pilot the program, including two national major firms.

Scott Butterworth, PEXA’s Chief Growth Officer, said: “The PEXA Exchange is recognised as revolutionising the way property is exchanged in Australia, and it is critical we continue to identify opportunities that extend our offering and enhance the property ecosystem to best meet the needs of Australian consumers.

“PEXA’s investment in OPEX will enable greater data transparency for all stakeholders, and significantly enhance the customer experience. And with property developers accounting for approximately 15% of the property transaction market, we believe there is an opportunity to remove the friction of managing multiple transactions at once, and deliver an end-to-end, transparent platform for the benefit of property developers, law firms and financial institutions.”

The investment by PEXA, both in terms of funding and go-to-market expertise, will enable integration of the OPEX platform with existing PEXA products, and will aim to deliver:

• Enhanced contract integrity: a consistent, digital audit trail over the entire contract exchange process, all the way through to e-settlement; 
• Transparent stakeholder engagement: developers, agents, practitioners and financiers will all have access to the same platform and the one source of truth for their data; 
• Faster exchange of contracts: efficient workflow that assists law firms and their developer clients to get contracts issued and exchanged faster, helping to secure the viability and finance for real estate projects; and
• A secure, open platform: a comprehensive suite of API’s that will enable law firms and developers to seamlessly connect the data in OPEX to their existing systems.

David Bugden, Founder and CEO of OPEX, said: “We are grateful for the support, guidance and investment made by PEXA to date, and we are truly excited by what the PEXA partnership will bring to enhance the capabilities of OPEX. This investment from PEXA will give us targeted access to clients and allow us to accelerate our strategic growth plans”.

-ENDS-

For media enquiries please contact:

Danielle Tricarico
Head of Corporate Affairs
E: danielle.tricarico@pexa.com.au

About PEXA

PEXA (Property Exchange Australia) is Australia’s online property exchange network. It assists members – such as lawyers, conveyancers and financial institutions – to lodge documents with Land Registries and complete financial settlements electronically.

Since 2014, more than 13 million transactions have occurred via PEXA, and today, more than 85% per cent of all property transfer settlements in Australia are processed on the PEXA platform. As of June 2022, 98% of Australian housing loan refinances nationally were completed via PEXA Exchange.