In a big news day for the structured sales market Prudential Life insurance announced today that they would be offering structured sales annuity product specifically for the funding of real estate and real property via installment sales.

Most of our readers are familiar with the concept of structured sales, which at their core are immediate annuity contracts, offered on an institutional pricing basis, to fund installment sales of real estate at guaranteed amounts and dates. Allstate Insurance pioneered the product and idea back in late 2004, with a formal roll out in early 2005. It has been rather slow to take off for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was a less then vigorous marketing and information campaign by Allstate to the tax and business press. With the introduction of another major player and the resulting marketing muscle they bring, it can only help to push the market forward and create greater awareness of the product and it's use in structured real estate sales.

I'll have more on this tomorrow when the formal announcement and sales kits hit our office.