It’s been nearly two years since BrickX launched, changing the way over 12,000 Australians invest in the property market.
Making property possible for everyday Aussies has always been at the heart of what we do. We love hearing from you on why you’re using BrickX. We‘ve heard first hand that we’ve got Aussies using BrickX for a variety of reasons, ranging from building a house deposit to contributing to their SMSF to generally growing their wealth.
Our mission
We’ve updated our mission, which is now to help Australians build a house deposit smarter, sooner and easier than ever before. We’ve been working on the strategy that outlines how we’ll aim to deliver this. We’ll share it with you over the coming months.
Of course, you can still use BrickX to pursue other goals as well.
Updates to the BrickX experience
Our research found that the experience of actually picking which Bricks to buy could be intimidating for those unfamiliar with property investment or those who simply didn’t have the time to do the research required to make investment decisions they felt comfortable with.
So, we’ve introduced a new smart, hassle-free way to help you grow a portfolio of Bricks.
Smart Invest
I’m proud to introduce Smart Invest – where you can set a monthly amount which will automatically be invested in Bricks, across properties picked for their growth potential.
- We’ll be tracking the property market using the CoreLogic Home Value Index, with an aim to outperform it each year
- Distributions will be automatically reinvested
- Your portfolio will be automatically diversified across different properties once you have over $500 invested
- Ideal for those who want to invest in Bricks but don’t know which properties to choose or those who want to build their portfolio by investing regularly
Our original product model is now called Build My Own – you can keep using it as before, reviewing investment cases, crunching the numbers and making your own investment decisions.
You can also use both Smart Invest and Build My Own at the same time if you like.
Updates to your Dashboard
Your portfolio value
Historically, in your dashboard, we’ve displayed your portfolio value based on the ‘Lowest Brick Price’. That means if you owned 10 Bricks in the St Peters, Adelaide property and the current Lowest Brick Price was $77, your portfolio value would have been $770.
We’ve updated your portfolio value to be focused on Brick Value – that is, the current value of a Brick based on the property’s most recent independent valuation (or the initial purchase cost, if the property is new and hasn’t yet been revalued).
Why?
Showing portfolio values based on Lowest Brick Value is only of interest to those currently looking to sell their Bricks. For those treating their Bricks as a medium-to-long-term investment (like most of you are), Brick Value is a more relevant metric as it’s based on the independent valuation of the property itself.
This means your portfolio value will be more aligned with how property prices change in the property market – over time, rather than on a day by day basis.
You can still see the current Lowest Brick Price in your account or on the Properties page of the website.
Your Dashboard
This year, over 67% of all BrickX website users have been on a mobile device. Building a BrickX app is on our roadmap (#watchthisspace), but in the meantime, we wanted to ensure we’re giving you a better experience when managing your account from your phone.
We did user testing to find out what folks care most about seeing when they log into their account, and the feedback was clear – your portfolio value and how your Bricks are performing.
For those of you who choose to use Smart Invest, you’ll be able to see your Smart Invest and Build My Own Bricks side by side.
We previously had the information on property performance in a table, which was hard to use on a mobile, especially so for those of you with multiple properties.
You can now drill into your portfolio and see a page on each property you own Bricks in, including your return on investment on those Bricks, the value of the distributions you’ve been paid, in addition to a picture of the property.
For example:
Information that used to be on your dashboard, like your five most recent transactions, is still in your account under ‘Recent Transactions’.
Minimum deposit amounts
The very thing that makes our offering unique is that by buying Bricks, you can invest in property for a few hundred dollars. Historically, our minimum deposit amount has been $75. Moving forward, this is moving to $250.
The minimum monthly investment amount of Smart Invest is $250, which equates to $3000/year (although you can skip a month or cancel at any time).
To keep things simple, we wanted the minimum investment amounts to be the same, whether you’re investing via Build My Own or Smart Invest.
All of these changes are reflected in our updated PDS.
UPDATE (26 October 2018): The BrickX initial investment amount is now $50. Members can add additional funds to their wallet using BPAY or POLi, anytime, with no minimum. The minimum monthly investment amount of Smart Invest is now $50.
An update to our branding
And finally, as you’ve likely noticed, while we were making these other changes, we’ve taken the opportunity to give BrickX a fresh new look, with an updated logo and colours.
I’d love to hear your feedback on the updates to our mission, your account and Smart Invest. These things are always a work in progress so do share your thoughts with me at anthonym@brickx.com.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all of you for your ongoing support.
Happy investing
Anthony Millet
CEO, BrickX
“A little revolution every now and then is a healthy thing, is it not?” – Captain Ramius (Red October).
Well done, Brickx Team.
Diggin’ the new groove, look and features.
Thanks Corian – appreciate the support. Keep your feedback coming!
Hi, Good to see the platform mature however I much prefer the way the portfolio worked before – with the buy price, current lowest price with the distributions and percentages. Made me feel things were happening. In the new platform it appears at a glance there will be no evidentual changes unless money is invested or there is a new valuation which is only every six months.
As a small invested I like to check in and see what is happening every few days.
Cheers
Hi Julian, thanks for your feedback. Really appreciate you shooting it though. We’ll definitely keep it in mind as we keep evolving the Dashboard and Portfolio pages.
I agree with this. It would be nice to see the ROI for the portfolio as a whole on the front page. It would change slightly every month due to distributions.
Also, I think the new $250 minimum deposit may scare off smaller investors who were hoping to just throw the spare change in the account. I’m sure there are many issues preventing this, but I would like to see an option in Smart Invest to make small regular payments that eventually lead to the purchase of a new brick when the funds allow.
Hey Dylan, thanks for your feedback. Noted and passed onto the wider team for consideration as we keep evolving the dashboard and portfolio pages. Nice idea regarding allowing Brick Owners to put aside smaller amounts like that. As we keep launching new features, we’ll let you all know.
I also agree with this, I liked seeing ROI for the whole portfolio on the front page, helped me keep on track of where things were at.
I am a smaller investor myself, I agree with the minimum drop. Its something i want to keep investing in weekly with my budget. Anything above $60pw can be a stretch for me even when earning 65k Annually.
Absolutely love the company however, Love the property selections.
Hi Aaron, thanks so much for your feedback. Great news – we’ve just announced that Brick Owners can now add funds to their accounts using BPAY or POLi anytime, with no minimum. New investors can now get started with BrickX for $50 too.
I agree with Julian. From what I’ve seen so far there’s no easy way to see paid distributions and ROI information. The new site looks great but the old portfolio screen was more informative and transparent.
Hi Tony, thanks for letting us know your thoughts on the updates. We’re going through all the feedback we’ve received and will take it into account as we continue to evolve the dashboard. Watch this space.
Agree with Julian as well. As an investor it gave a better overview what’s happening. Now it’s more like a bubble and the transactions aren’t clearly arranged to each property.
Can we have the choice for which layout, please.
Thanks Romy. We’re looking at some options to address the feedback we’ve received here and will come back to you all soon on it.
Hi I Agree with Julian,
Valuation is great but doesn’t represent what you could get for them today if you needed to sell out. ie double bay currently 9.16% below valuation is quite misleading.
The old front page had a lot of information yes that wasn’t great on a mobile but saved having to go to lots of places i dont even know how to.
Is it possible to have a report or screen with all the information that non mobile users can run?
Cheers
Hi Mark, thanks for the feedback. Off the back of the comments we’ve received, we’re looking at creating an advanced view that’s got more info on it for those that want it. Watch this space – we’ll shoot an email out when it’s up.
Hi Guys – the update is refreshing, but I agree with Julian with the way portfolio valuations are presented.
I feel the best way to portray what the value of a brick in each particular house is worth is what someone is willing to pay for it. Surely the best measure for this is the last price a brick was traded???
Hi James, thanks for your feedback. We appreciate it and I’ll pass it onto the team to consider as we continue to develop the dashboard and portfolio pages.
Regarding moving to have your portfolio value based on the property value (as opposed to lowest Brick price), this change was made to give those investing in Bricks for the long-term more clarity on what their Brick Value actually is. We understand that may not be the primary metric everyone’s keen to see though – we’ll take that on board as keep evolving.
Appreciate you taking the time to shoot through your feedback.
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Why can’t we have both?
As an investor, I prefer to have an option to see both way (the portfolio value based on the market valuation, and also the latest trade price). Could you make an option in the setting of the Online portal to let us switch or choose? So, we can see the portfolio value based on their preference? Thanks.
Hey Paul, thanks for your feedback and nice idea re having the option to choose. I’ve passed this onto our product team for consideration as we continue to evolve the dashboard and portfolio pages. Watch this space – we’ll keep you all posted as we make additional updates.
I have been on the BrickX platform over 8 months now and have seen the number of investors grow every month. I am glad to see the new changes coming through as this will attract more investors and make it a more popular investing platform. Good luck to the BrickX team!!!
Thanks Vishy – appreciate your note and your ongoing support 🙂
Much preferred the old layout – don’t think this aids comparability or understanding the total value of your portfolio based on current prices. It’s a bit like showing what one paid for Enron.
That only people using smart invest (read – actively investing via the platform) can see the old style would suggest this is designed to obfuscate rather than demonstrate transparency, and might actually prevent more active use.
Hi Ben, thanks for your feedback. To be clear, all Brick Owners (whether you’re using Build My Own, Smart Invest or both) have the same portfolio view. You can see Bricks broken up by Smart Invest / Build My Own, but the information on them is the same no matter which way you’ve bought the Bricks. If you click See Portfolio and then navigate to Build My Own, you can see all the properties you own Bricks in. You can then go in to see details of each one.
We’ll take your comments regarding the layout onboard as we keep evolving the dashboard and portfolio pages of the site.
Appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.
Hi I have only been with brick x two months and finding a enjoyable way to get in the realestate game I can see myself reaching my goal over the next ten years
Hi David, pleased to hear it and good luck continuing to work towards your goal.
Hello
The new page is very clean.
But I would suggest like the others above to have two options – one being the valuation price (default) and also current selling price (option).
I also miss the pie chart showing the spread across the different properties.
I like the idea of the new portfolio option where it is spread across all properties and I think this will give new investors more options.
In regards to the increase in the minimum investment, I get that you have to have a minimum but do wonder if you can reduce to $200. Just to ensure that more people can invest particularly those on a lower wage.
Hi Robin, thanks for your feedback. We’re going to be continuing to evolve the portfolio page on the website and we’ll definitely take your feedback on board as we go through that process.
+1
Slick new React/Redux SPA is a great move forward. However I do miss the old stats as it provided a good overview at a glance. Please also consider introducing a dark theme to improve accessibility.
As a side note the
Cheers
Hi Joshua, we’ll pass that onto our engineering team, who will be stoked you like the SPA 🙂 Appreciate the other feedback too and we’ll definitely take it on board as we keep evolving.
Hi guys
I agree with the general consensus in that displaying the ROI in accordance with lowest brick price available is a better reflection of our current position, regardless of investment goals.
At the end of the day, properties are only worth what someone is willing to pay and valuations, although based on specific data input, are ultimately theoretical and not objective.
Displaying only the current “value” of the brick is a little too “smoke in mirrors” for me and i’d prefer there being the option of choosing what we want to see.
Otherwise love the update, and a great platform, thankyou.
John
Hi John, thanks for the feedback. It’s awesome that we’ve had so many constructive pieces of feedback through. We’re taking it all on board as we keep evolving the dashboard and portfolio.
Thanks for the reply. The fact that you guys are publishing all replies both positive and negative in relation to the new update says alot about your transparency and integrity. For me personally, it gives me alot of confidence in Brickx going forward.
Cheers.
Thanks John, appreciate that feedback. We’re definitely very open to all of your thoughts and really appreciate you all taking the time to pass them on. It allows us to keep evolving BrickX, with a goal to make it bigger and better! We’re taking all the comments here on board, so watch this space.
+1
Hi,
I’d also like to chime in and lend support to the above posters regarding the old layout. Been an investor since around the start of BrickX and I feel the old layout on the Portfolio screen was more useful in terms of seeing how all our investments are performing side by side on one simple page. Whereas now we have to scroll down the list and go into each property to find this information. Feels less intuitive to be honest.
Perhaps retain the old layout for the desktop site and keep the new one for mobile?
Really like the new logo and the rest of the site though.
Hi Don, thanks for taking the time to send us your thoughts. We’re definitely hearing you all and will take your feedback on board as we keep evolving the dashboard and portfolio pages.
Hi there,
I think we’ve gone backwards with the portfolio. How can I compare my whole portfolio ROI (net fees) with other investments I have? How can I even tell if my brickx portfolio is performing well (what is a good performing brickx account?)? I can see how houses are performing, but that doesn’t matter if the whole portfolio is under performing in comparison to other investments.
– Tom
Hey Tom, thanks a lot for your comment. We’re hearing you all loud and clear. We’ll keep you posted as we continue to evolve the dashboard and portfolio pages on the site, and will take your feedback into account as we go through that process.
This new layout is terrible. Far prefer the old layout and investment amount, it appears you are now a a small fish growing and trying to swim with the big fish. Small investments and amounts are far more achievable and allow rapid investment rather than save, wait and then invest when funds are ssufficient. As for the layout and response it is terrible and not as user friendly as the old. It is complicated and does not resspond. Wrong way go back. New is not always better. I am having nothing but trouble with it.
Hi Chris, we really appreciate you taking the time to give us your thoughts. The whole BrickX team is reviewing all of the feedback we’ve had since the updates were rolled out and we’re taking it on board as we keep evolving the dashboard and portfolio pages. We’ll keep you all posted.
Hi
Please return the property performance table. The clean, big picture transparency made the decision making seem quick, clear, informed, was enjoyable to check in on and was also great to use to promote to friends – of any gender. The removal seems like an overly obvious discouragement away from the former style of investment toward smart investment.
Thanks,
Hi Kamila, thanks for your feedback. Appreciate you taking the time to shoot it through. We’ll take in on board as we keep evolving the website.
I agree with most of the comments above. I enjoyed the old layout and the ability to see the performance of your different brickx next to each other. I’m not a fan of the new valuation. I understand why you have done it but fail to see the benefit. If I decide to sell off some of my profits based on your valuation, I could come out cheated when there is no one out there willing to buy the brickx for that price. Lastly, changing the minimum deposit has made it almost impossible for me to invest extra cash into my account on a regular basis. What I loved about Brickx, being able to invest in property for almost next to nothing, has now been taken away from me.
Hi Pieter, thanks for your feedback. We’re going to be making some further edits to the portfolio pages off the back of all the feedback we’ve received, so watch this space.
Understand the logic of “medium – long term” investors, hence updating the value of portfolio to be the latest valuation price, but that also means the definition of the unit price for my investment in trust has also changed. and agree with a few others as well, I would prefer the lowest selling price (closest to how much the interested party will pay for). over the latest valuation price because it seems to me it is just another way to show a prettier rate of “capital return”
Hi Lena, thanks for your feedback. When we made the change some user’s ROI would have increased, some decreased and some remained unchanged, depending on what combination of properties each person held and at what price they’d paid for their Bricks. We’re taking all the feedback we’re received on board as we keep evolving the dashboard and portfolio pages.
Another vote for the old dashboard!
1) I prefer the REAL TIME portfolio value base on lowest available brick price of properties over latest valuation. This is what makes me log in regularly to review my portfolio. Seeing the % go up and down is what keeps me motivated. I am a medium to long term investor not short term. The latest valuation makes no difference to me as I don’t have the option to sell the house. My only option is to sell the bricks if I need.
2) I much prefer the table view. This helps me compare and track performance at the individual property level which was super useful. It helped me decide where to put my $$ next.
I really don’t need to see a photo of the property here as if I want that I can go into the individual property.
Thanks for your feedback Shah. Understand your comments. We’re continuing to evolve the dashboard and portfolio pages of the site. Watch this space!
I definitely prefer the old portfolio layout, where I could see everything in a compact table. I now have to click through individual properties to see the information that was previously shown in the table (average brick price paid, lowest brick price and latest brick valuation). Sorry, but the new layout is a big step backwards for me.
With regards to portfolio valuation, having considered the pros & cons, I think it would be best to allow us to see both valuations – one based on lowest brick price, and another based on the latest brick valuation.
Looking forward to seeing this sorted out soon.
Thanks for your feedback Daniel. We’ll keep you all posted as further updates are released. We’re reviewing all the feedback here as part of that process.
I am the same I prefer seeing the lowest brickx price available and percentage change and ROI % change, its a good visual guide and at a glance you can see how properties are going, I can still do this one by one but the old style you can see it all on the one page.
Still the new look has more useful info so its gets a thumbs up from me !!!
Hi Ross, thanks for your feedback. We’re reviewing everyone’s comments here as we continue to evolve.
I think users should have visibility on the valuation as well as the sell now value of their portfolio. When selling a house, only the buyer’s bank cares about the valuation- the buyer and seller are concerned with what someone will pay for it at that point and time. I don’t think it is much different with bricks…
Hi Ashley, thanks for your comments. We’re keeping them all in mind as we continue to evolve the dashboard and portfolio sections of the site.
Hi guys
The new update has really taken the excitement out of this platform for me. Before the update i’d look forward to checking up regularly to see how my bricks were doing compared with the lowest brick price available, and there would be movement either in one direction or the other. I knew my exact position and the easy to access comparison “side by side” of all my properties was so user friendly. It was more similar to a share portfolio and very comprehensive.
Now its basic, static information and will remain the same for 6 months. It takes so much more time now, that I don’t have, to go into each property and look for myself.
I liked the transparency of the old dashboard and the constant updates on the recent buy/sells and also how many total investors there were in the platform.
Yes, the ROI now looks far more impressive, but like I said in a previous post, its only theoretical.
I used to be a fan of BrickX, but I honestly have lost the mojo due to this update.
I won’t be buying anymore bricks and will probably start moving my money into shares where I’m comfortable with the transparency.
Kind regards
John
Hi John, appreciate the honest feedback. We’re taking everyone’s comments on board and are working on some updates to address them. We’ll keep you all posted as they’re released.
Hi, thanks for showing that you are developing the platform but the new dashboard has been deprived of information and basically just shows a big blotch of yellow given that valuations are not changing on a daily basis. The old dashboard had much more information at the fingertips, I do not see any additional information in the new dashboard – quite the opposite. Getting an overview on each property is now a pain as you need to drill into each property separately. Maybe make it an option which dashboard to use?
Hi Jonas, thanks for your feedback. We’re taking on board all of the feedback we’ve received since we made the changes and are looking at some updates to address them. Watch this space!
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Bring the original dashboard back. It made complete sense and I knew exactly what my investment was worth at a glance.
Thanks for the feedback Leah. We’re going to make some further tweaks to the dashboard and portfolio pages off the back of the feedback here. We’ll take your comments into account as we keep evolving.
The media coverage that has promoted the Brickx platform has really focused on ‘ getting into the property market’ with as little as $100 …. your new minimum investment of $250 has probably put potential investors off.
There is no actual logical reason to force the minimum for smart invest onto build your own – none. It simplifies nothing (except maybe a paragraph in YOUR T&Cs) and discouraged me and people like me. A $250 minimum deposit makes this less achievable for me. I can scrape together a spare $75-$100 every couple months and decide which bricks to buy based on that. Think about how that changes your marketing from ‘anyone can invest in property’. Usually by the time I have a ‘spare’ $250 something has come up because something ALWAYS comes up. By your rationale people like me shouldn’t bother trying.
Hi Maria, we wanted the minimum investment amounts to be the same for both Build My Own and Smart Invest so investors were picking which product was right for them based on which way they wanted to invest, rather than the minimum amount becoming a factor. I’ve passed your comment onto Jamie, our head of customer service, who will drop you an email to discuss your options. In the meantime though, thanks for taking the time to give us your feedback.
Another vote for unhappy with the new layout, find pretty much zero value in the Dashboard or My Portfolio page now, I want the grid back too please!!
Thanks Jocasta – we’re making some changes to the dashboard off the back of the comments we’ve received. Watch this space. We’ll drop everyone an email when we’ve pushed the next evolution of the dashboard / portfolio out.
Ah, now I read this blog I can see I’m not alone. I agree with everyone. Bring back the old dashboard so I can see everything at a glance. I’m not sure whether you were redesigning for use on mobiles, but however you redesign it, take note that it is likely many of your clients view the dashboard on a desktop.
Thanks Linda. We’ve reviewed all the feedback here and are making some changes to address the comments. Watch this space and thanks for taking the time to leave us your thoughts 🙂
The new minimum investment prevents me from investing further. That would be a months worth of spare cash, I will put it all into Raiz until you reduce the minimum investment. If I can buy a brick for $33 why can’t I transfer $33 (plus 1.75%)? Linking it to the new product doesn’t make sense. Also bring back the old dashboard (or have both). The new layout is terrible and it is hard to find where to log on on the app.
Hey Richard, thanks for your feedback. We’re releasing an update to your dashboard today where we’ll be introducing an ‘advanced view’, which features a table / pie graph, which you can use to compare your Bricks against one another. We’ll email you all once it’s up. I’ve passed your comments regarding the minimum deposit onto the wider team for consideration.
Thanks, minimum deposit sorted and I can even set up a regular xfer with BPay 👍
Would still like to see a current value based on minimum brick price is the “advanced” view
I really disagree with the change to the minimum deposit. I have a large family with four kids. This was a great method of saving for us where I could invest less than $100 which I could take out of my regular income.
To invest $250 as a minimum makes the platform unusable for me. I’m going to have to save up $250 somehow and invest it when I can rather than being able to invest smaller amounts more often.
If this stays the same I’m probably going to have to find another option.
I agree with the other comments to, bring back the old layout, on my IPAD it was excellent.
Hi Jason, thanks so much for your feedback. Great news – we’ve just announced that Brick Owners can now add funds to their accounts using BPAY or POLi anytime, with no minimum.
Hi everyone, just a note to say a big thank you to everyone who left us feedback on the changes. We released an update to the Portfolio page today, which included a new ‘Advanced View’. It features a similar table to what was in your account previously. To see it, just log into your account and tap the ‘Advanced View’ link at the bottom of the Portfolio page.
Hi,
Thank you for bringing back the old portfolio page. Definitely provides more information for me when I want to invest more or lower my average brick price.
Would it be possible to move the “Advanced View” link from the bottom of the page to the top, perhaps place it under the “My Portfolio” title? Seems more intuitive this way as opposed to having to scroll down past my property holdings to get to it.
Lastly, within the Advanced View of My Portfolio, could you perhaps consider inputting a sub-column within Yield to include a percentage return for distributions? Would be great to see the percentage returns next to capital growth. Just a thought.
Thanks again for returning the old portfolio page.
Thanks for returning the old information. The ‘Advanced View’ is much better. However, I would still like to see the value of my portfolio based on the lowest brick prices, as we previously had. Can you please display this somewhere in the advanced view table? I’m happy to be able to see both values, as they are both useful. Thanks!