Overview

Cedar Innovations lowers the cost of buying a house by separating it from the land beneath it. The buyer takes a mortgage on the house alone while Cedar buys the land and leases it back, shrinking the loan and the cash needed at closing; the company says monthly costs can run 20 to 50 percent lower. Buyers pay ground rent, accrue equity in the home, and can buy the land later, while Cedar earns income from ground rent and land sales and works with lenders on the mortgages. Unlike shared-equity programs that take a cut of the home's appreciation, it monetizes only the land. The company's goal is to widen access to ownership by pricing land separately from the structure.