紐時賞析／加密貨幣進軍美國房地產市場

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為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周表示，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，將加密貨幣投資視為整體財富的一部分。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.

普爾特周三宣布這項消息之際，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%的購屋者表示計畫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為打破當前市場僵局、活絡房市銷售的一種方式。其中一間名為Milo的企業提供投資者使用比特幣做為抵押品，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幾個百分點，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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【張佑生】

美國抵押貸款公司開始接受加密貨幣（crypto）作為資產，顯示其逐漸成為主流金融（mainstream finance）一部分。加密貨幣縮寫自cryptocurrency，指基於區塊鏈或加密技術的數位貨幣，如比特幣（Bitcoin）、以太幣（Ethereum）。其核心特徵是去中心化，不依賴中央銀行發行。導言同時提到digital currencies，指加密貨幣，但範圍更廣，泛指數位形式金融資產。

美國政府允許將加密貨幣納入抵押貸款申請的資產評估，抵押貸款（mortgage）指購房者向銀行或金融機構借錢買房，以房屋作擔保（抵押品）的貸款。歐美有D.U.M.B.謔稱，是Debt, Unemployment, Mortgage, Bankruptcy的字首縮寫，意為債務、失業、抵押貸款、破產，以幽默方式描述屋奴的財務困境，符合文章中房貸壓力的背景。

抵押品（collateral）是借錢時所提供，可被收回的資產，作為保證還款的擔保。報導中，加密貨幣被用來當作申請房貸的抵押品，不必賣掉也能取得資金。許多購屋者選擇賣出加密資產來支付頭期款(down payment)，是因為加密貨幣變現靈活。