紐時賞析／加密貨幣進軍美國房地產市場

美國正探索用數位貨幣買房的方法，部分公司也協助人們用房屋價值購買比特幣。紐約時報

Crypto Moves Into Housing

加密貨幣進軍美國房地產市場

The nation’s largest mortgage finance firms will begin accepting crypto as an asset on a mortgage application, another significant step by the Trump administration to bring digital currencies into mainstream finance.

美國最大的抵押貸款融資企業將開始接受加密貨幣作爲申請抵押貸款時的資產，這是川普政府推動數位貨幣進入主流金融體系的又一重要措施。

This week, President Donald Trump’s housing director, William Pulte, said he would direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the nation’s big mortgage finance firms — to consider homebuyers’ crypto investments as part of their overall wealth in assessing whether they can afford a mortgage. Traditionally, a homebuyer’s cash savings and stock investments are what mortgage lenders consider.

聯邦住房金融局局長普爾特本週表示，將指示美國兩大抵押貸款融資公司—房利美與房地美，在評估購屋者是否能負擔房貸時，將加密貨幣投資視爲整體財富的一部分。傳統上，抵押貸款機構考慮的是購屋者的現金儲蓄與股票投資。

Fannie and Freddie, which are a critical cog in the housing market, buy mortgages from banks and establish a set of criteria for which borrowers’ mortgages they will accept.

房利美和房地美是住房市場的重要樞紐，它們向銀行購買房貸，並制定可接受的房貸借款人資格標準。

The announcement by Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, on Wednesday comes as an increasing number of Americans have been using digital currencies to buy houses and new companies have formed to help them take advantage of their crypto holdings to buy real estate.

普爾特週三宣佈這項消息之際，愈來愈多美國人開始使用數位貨幣購屋，也有新創公司成立來協助他們善用加密貨幣資產購買不動產。

The crypto market and its many supporters have been pushing regulators in this direction for several years, raising concerns among consumer advocates that this lightly regulated and highly volatile investment asset is being tied to something as vital to the economy as the housing market.

加密貨幣市場及其支持者多年來一直敦促監管單位朝這個方向前進，但消費者倡議團體則擔心，這種監管相對寬鬆、價格高度波動的投資資產，會被像房市這樣對經濟至關重要的領域綁住。

In a recent survey, roughly 14% of homebuyers said they planned to sell crypto assets to help get the cash to cover a down payment on a home, up from 5% in 2019, according to Redfin, the residential real estate brokerage company.

房地產仲介公司雷德芬最近調查，約14%的購屋者表示計劃出售加密資產以籌措現金支付房屋首付，比率高於2019年的5%。

Several startups are already pitching crypto as a way to cut through the market’s current morass and jump-start home sales. One firm, Milo, offers investors a way to use bitcoin as collateral for getting a home mortgage.

已有幾家新創公司正推銷加密貨幣作爲打破當前市場僵局、活絡房市銷售的一種方式。其中一間名爲Milo的企業提供投資者使用比特幣做爲抵押品，以獲得房屋貸款。

The interest tends to be a few percentage points higher than a normal mortgage, but the customer gets the benefit of not having to sell any crypto or pay capital gains. When the mortgage is paid off, Milo returns the bitcoin to the investor.

這種貸款的利率通常比一般房貸高几個百分點，但客戶的好處是不用賣掉任何加密貨幣或繳納資本利得稅。一旦抵押貸款還清，Milo會返還比特幣給投資者。

Other firms are helping homeowners’ tap their home’s equity to buy crypto. The strategy is similar to so-called home equity investment contracts, which provide lump-sum cash payments to a homeowner in return for the right to share in the appreciation in a home’s value.

其他公司則協助屋主利用房屋淨值購買加密貨幣。這種策略類似所謂房屋淨值投資合約，也就是一次性給屋主現金，換取未來房價增值部分權益。

文／Matthew Goldstein，譯／江昱蓁

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