Yorkshire born Chris Smith was back in Leeds for UKREiiF 2026 to find investors for a revolutionary new way to own property: home subscription.
Chris has lived in New Zealand, worked for an Australian bank and been part of a US property scheme, but has never forgotten his Yorkshire roots.
UKREiif (the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum) attracts over 16,000 attendees to Leeds and was the ideal venue to discuss the venture, called BLOXX. Although he will be talking to people from across the nations and internationally, Chris is keen to see Yorkshire become part of the project.
Chris Smith caught a lucky break when, soon after university, with his first child on the way, he went to work for the Yorkshire Building Society and received an interest and deposit free staff mortgage. Chris grew up in council housing in Brighouse and had always lived in rented accommodation. It had never occurred to him to buy a house, until his employer made him the offer that was too good to ignore. He says he was surprised at how important his house became to him. ‘Owning a home felt different; we could make it our own.’ He could decorate, own a dog, stay there as long or short a time as he wished. He had more control over his life.
Unfortunately, banks and building societies no longer give such incentives to their staff. The supply of council housing has diminished since I, like Chris, grew up in social housing, and banks are asking for larger deposits to secure your own home. Chris went on to become the CEO of a bank but has come to question the financial modelling which makes homes so hard to buy and so easy to lose when individuals
face challenges such as divorce, redundancy or ill health.
Chris has stepped away from a top job in banking to explore a completely differentmodel. When COVID happened, he and his family (he now has six children) were, spending time in Yorkshire, living in the countryside near Scarborough. He tells me he spent a lot of time watching the sea and thinking about ‘how things could be different.’ His family are now back in New Zealand. Four of his children were born
there and are still in school.
BLOXX has already begun linking people and homes in New Zealand. Now Chris is bringing the BLOXX mission to ‘get people into homes’ to the UK. He tells me that there are lots of investors, including major pension schemes, who would like to invest in property. The BLOXX scheme would see home buyers and
investors connecting without middlemen. Rather than taking out a loan from a bank, in the form of a mortgage, buyers would acquire equity in the house they are inhabiting. He tells me that 75% of UK renters would like to buy a house but are prevented by lack of a deposit or high repayments.
Prospective homeowners in the BLOXX scheme put down 1% of the property’s value to begin their equity payment. The property they can afford is assessed through their monthly income and outgoings. I was pleased to hear that there are no exclusions for people who are self-employed or on short term contracts. Chris wants to open home buying to a group of people who thought they would never have the
opportunity to buy. Every time they make a payment they are buying part of their house.
The fact that the scheme operates through equity with no borrowing means that it appeals to people who avoid loans for personal, ethical or religious reasons. Chris took part in two panels at UKREiiF, one to promote this form of house buying and the other a panel that explored Islamic real estate development.
If buyers find themselves in a situation where they can no longer make payments, then the house will not be repossessed and sold at a loss as it would be by a bank. Instead, it is sold at market value, and any outstanding payments are subtracted from the amount of equity that is returned to the buyer. On the other hand, someone who finds they have more money than expected can pay off more equity or switch to an ordinary mortgage. The scheme is flexible, with ‘customers put first.’
Having used his own money to launch the scheme, Chris is back renting again. He is working with a team of 20 people across New Zealand, Australia, and the UK to bring social responsibility back into house buying with his ‘product for the people.’
You can read more about BLOXX on the company’s website here.
