Tokenization Opens Real Estate to Broader Investor Base, Says Apex Group Exec

Apex Group, in collaboration with Goldman Sachs, Ownera (a digital asset infrastructure provider), LRC Group (a real estate investment firm) and digital exchange Archax, launched a tokenized real estate fund domiciled in Luxembourg on 4 Jun. Fund shares are issued onchain via GS DAP, Goldman Sachs's institutional blockchain platform.

Apex, which administers more than $3.5tn in assets globally, is providing alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) services and fund administration for the vehicle.

More diversification, liquidity

"For a very long time [real estate has been] investable through closed-ended funds, so buy and hold positions," Agnes Mazurek, global head of digital assets at Apex Group, told Sandmark. "By tokenizing, we're really transforming the approach to the asset class and making it accessible to a much wider spectrum of investors."

"Real estate in a fractionalized manner is very appealing," Mazurek said. "Rather than buying a flat, a block of flats or building, they can buy fractions." For fund managers, tokenization opens access to a wider base of investors who can enter the portfolio in smaller increments. For investors, it means they can diversify into smaller investments that are easier to trade.

Nascent but growing sector

Tokenized real estate remains a small but fast-growing part of the broader tokenized asset market. Around $280mn in real estate assets were recorded onchain across 90 assets globally as of late May 2026, according to RWA.xyz, against a total tokenized asset market of roughly $31bn, primarily made up of tokenized treasuries and private credit. In a 2025 report, Deloitte projected the tokenized real estate market could reach $4tn by 2035.

The fund launched by Apex holds a seed portfolio of central London residential properties managed by LRC Group. This allowed investors to "put their money to work immediately" without waiting for new acquisitions, minimizing the J-curve effect – the common pattern in private funds where returns are negative or flat in early years while capital is being deployed, before turning positive later.

Private vs public chains

The fund uses a private-permissioned chain – a type of blockchain where only approved institutions can participate, offering more control and regulatory compliance than fully public blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum. "There is a lot of debate around public versus private chains," Mazurek said. "There's no right answer or no definitive answer. The answer is really based on the use case."

Private chains offer greater control over information and investor access, which can be attractive to fund managers. Public chains provide better interoperability and price discovery. Apex is also working on real estate fund structures that will use public chains, though details are not yet public.

Regulatory direction signals support

The fund is domiciled in Luxembourg due to its well-established Reserved Alternative Investment Fund (RAIF) framework and relatively lighter-touch regulation. Luxembourg has gone further than most European jurisdictions on digital securities, with its current law permitting fund units to be issued directly onchain.

Mazurek said the UK’s April 2026 policy statement on fund tokenization and moves by the Central Bank of Ireland could encourage more managers toward those jurisdictions in the future.

"Regulation precedes innovation," Mazurek said. "Sometimes innovation is trying to make a leapfrog, but that innovation is only going to be sustainable if it's anchored in a reliable regulatory framework."