I think it is possible to borrow against internet real estate, at least through a few specialist online sites (that I can't remember atm).
I just don't see why people are prepared to borrow so much to speculate in the buy to let market. A gross return of 6% seems to be considered reasonable these days for letting, but people are betting on a capital increase as well.
OK history would suggest that over the longer term this is more than likely, but from the viewpoint of holding a balanced portfolio across a broad range of investments & asset classes, many property investors are putting all their eggs into one basket.
My pension funds returned around 18% last year, as did many stock tracking & investment funds. Even my endowment policy had a good year for a change!
Some instant savings accounts pay over 5%, the NS&I ISA is 5.3% tax free & there are a few blue chip shares offering similar dividend returns, so why pile into property now when the market is saturated in many areas?
Domains as an investment are often seen as speculative, but I think there are many solid, category leading names that are a AAA investment. Who wouldn't want loans com or hotels com? But the guy who spent millions on business com may well have done better with property - at least in the shorter term.
Sedo report that juegos com has just been resold at 10 times the 2004 purchase price. That’s a very high multiple, but it was always a good purchase, even if just for the traffic (rent).
So some domains can be a good buy for the canny investor & the market is buoyant now, but the usual caveats apply.
What will be interesting to see is how much debt people will be prepared to take on for domain investments. If that were to rise to the levels we see common with property today it will create the opportunity for domain prices to rise substantially in the short term.
