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Real estate crowdfunding is one of the easiest ways to invest in property and one of my favorite forms of investment together with P2P lending.
Until recent years, the only options to enter the real estate market were to either buy property directly or to invest in a REIT.
Now, we have real estate crowdfunding sites, which are somewhat between those two forms of investment. If you want to learn more about the differences between these types of investments in the property market, check out my article on REITs vs Crowdfunding VS Private Investing.
Here’s a quick list of my favorite European real estate crowdfunding platforms in 2021:
- Rendity – top platform for 2021 – my Rendity review
- Reinvest24 – the highest interest rates – my Reinvest24 review
- EstateGuru – the biggest platform – my EstateGuru review
- Crowdestate – a reliable platform in the Baltics –Â my Crowdestate review
- EvoEstate – curated real estate investments – my EvoEstate review
- iFunded – specialized in German real estate – my iFunded review
- Property Partner – best UK platform – my Property Partner review
- Bulkestate – Baltic and Scandinavian real estate – my Bulkestate review
- Raizers – best for French real estate – my Raizers review
How Real Estate Crowdfunding Works
So let’s explore what real estate crowdfunding entails.
There are three basic ways of buying a stake in a real estate crowdfunded property: secured loans, unsecured loans, and equity investment.
Here is a short recap of what each of these means for the investor:
- Secured loan (senior debt) – collateral is offered to secure the loan. The collateral can be real estate or some other asset, including a personal guarantee. With this type of loan the investor is the first in line to receive their payout, and in case of any problems the collateral can be sold to minimize losses. However, the existence of collateral means that the risk (and therefore the yield) is lower and one should definitely investigate the asset that is offered as collateral.
- Unsecured loan (mezzanine loan) – while mortgage holders are usually first in line to receive payments, an unsecured loan means exactly that. It is not secured by collateral. This means that the interest rate offered should be higher than for a loan that is secured. If the project is unsuccessful, there are no assets to sell to recover any funds (i.e small loans). In this case, one should pay a lot of attention to whom they are loaning their funds in and how well the platform is equipped to handle problematic customers.
- Equity investment – with this type of investment one should note the structure of liabilities – the company will pay debts to employees and creditors first and only then investors may receive their payments from the remaining assets of the company. In case of failure, there is a real possibility that the earnings of the investor are reduced to a 0. When the project succeeds, however, employees and creditors usually receive a fixed interest rate while the equity investor earns more. So, in this case, one should make sure that they assess the probability of failure. Is the project understandable? Are the numbers presented in the project realistic?
As a rule of thumb, it is good for an investor to remember – the lower the risk of the project, the lower the expected yield. And if you are considering investing in real estate that offers a 20%+ yield per annum, be sure to be very critical about the contents of the project before investing. Most likely it is not a secured project meaning a significantly higher risk level for the investor.
So, be sure not to look at just the yield but rather the investment. It is important to always know what you are investing in, who you are trusting your money with and to be realistic in terms of expectations.
My Experience with Real Estate Crowdfunding
Before we talk about my favorite real estate crowdfunding sites in 2021, let me remind you that I’ve been investing in real estate through online platforms since 2015, and I’ve used many platforms targeting various geographical regions.
On average, my returns have been around 5-7% per year.
The Spanish investments have been my biggest disappointment, largely due to either the incompetence of the platform team or the horrible government legislative changes.
Investments in the UK have also not provided me with much joy, but apart from the Lendy scam, the other platforms have been quite well managed and the big issue with property in the UK has been the Brexit event which was quite unexpected and threw everything off the rails.
On the other hand, the Baltics have provided some excellent returns, and this is what I consider to be the hottest real estate market in Europe at the moment. The German and Austrian markets have also provided me with stable returns – these are mature markets and the platforms in these countries tend to be run by serious and ethical people.
Investing in real estate online can be a daunting prospect to many new investors, as they might not be used to mixing an offline asset like property, with the technology and intangibility of the internet. And that is why I’d like to guide you towards what I feel are the best and most trustworthy platforms of 2021.
See also: How to evaluate private real estate investments
Keep in mind that within each platform there are different modalities of real estate investments. I’ve written briefly about these in my article about risk vs yield in real estate investment.
1. Rendity – overall platform for 2021
Rendity is one of the few platforms focused on the German and Austrian real estate markets that also cater to international investors. iFunded is the other one I’ve used.
The vast majority of deals are situated in Austria. There are also a number of opportunities in Germany, too.
In these turbulent times, I appreciate the opportunity to invest in solid markets such as Germany and Austria.
In terms of statistics to date, Rendity notes that it has successfully completed 63 funded projects, which translates into €34 million in invested capital. The average annualized return thus far amounts to 6.10%.
This is a very solid platform with a good team behind it, and investors have been very happy with the results so far.
You can read my full review of Rendity to learn more about this platform and decide whether it’s the right choice for you.
2. Reinvest24 – for the best interest rates
After having invested in this platform early in 2019 and speaking with Tanel Orro (CEO of Reinvest24) on my podcast I can safely say that it’s one of my favorite real estate platforms. I like their approach of being cautious and very transparent with their investors.
Whereas other platforms publish risky loans indiscriminately at times, Reinvest24 are focused on projects that return interest over their lifetime. Their idea is to obtain real estate at very good prices, do some great refurbishing and then rent it out for some sweet monthly returns.
I would especially recommend such a platform to someone who wants to build a monthly passive income stream that can fully or partially sustain one’s lifestyle, which is what has popularly come to be known as financial independence, and closely linked to the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement.
All the projects I have invested on with Reinvest24 have exited successfully, and I look forward to continuing to invest on this platform. Moreover, they have kept their promise of launching the secondary market in 2020, thus increasing liquidity options for existing investors.
While Reinvest24 started off focusing on Estonian projects, they have now started to expand beyond, offering projects also from Latvia, Moldova and Spain.
Their interest rates are pretty fantastic, with plenty of projects offering rates of around 15% and just 6 months duration, so you won’t be tying up your money for a long time.
3. EstateGuru – the biggest platform
EstateGuru provides investors with the chance to invest in real-estate loans. The projects usually yield a bit more than 10% and are on average a year long.
Apart from pure real estate development loans for new projects, they also put up the following types of loans on the platform:
- business loans
- bridge loans
- reconstruction loans
Most loans return interest on a monthly basis, although some have other arrangements. The main market for EstateGuru is Estonia, however, I have also seen loans from Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Spain and Portugal. I expect them to keep diversifying geographically as they grow over the next few years.
I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing their COO Mihkel Stamm on Mastermind.fm, so do check out that episode if you want to learn more about the platform.
I have also written an extensive review of EstateGuru on this blog, where I provide you with all the details about how investing with this platform works and what results you can expect.
4. Crowdestate – another top Baltic platform
Crowdestate was launched in Estonia in 2014 and has a very good track record with returns upwards of 20% and more than 40,000 investors to date. I love their site as things are very easy to find and it’s a pleasure to navigate through all the investment opportunities.
Check out my interview with the CEO and founder Loit Linnupold on Mastermind.fm.
There is also a secondary market that helps maintain liquidity with your investments. I have written about my experience on Crowdestate in my full review so check that out if you want to see how I was able to obtain 13.28% returns on this platform so far.
5. EvoEstate – curated real estate investments
EvoEstate is an innovative platform as it aggregates and curates the best deals from many platforms. The team at EvoEstate specializes in real estate deals as they believe that this is the investment vehicle that will produce the best and most reliable returns in the next few years.
You can read my full review of EvoEstate or listen to my podcast with EvoEstate cofounder Gustas GermanaviÄŤius for more information.
6. Property Partner – the best UK platform
This is the top UK real estate platform in my opinion. They’re very well organized and professional in their analysis of each investment opportunity, which enables me to make informed decisions about my investments.
I’ve written an in-depth Property Partner review where I explain how this platform works. I’ve been very happy with how I’ve been treated as an investor. I think of this platform as one of the bedrocks in my real estate investment strategy.
I’ve been investing in UK real estate for several years through this platform, and even though Brexit was a tough blow, I have high hopes for future returns as the UK will never lose its appeal for international investors and expats.
7. iFunded – specialized in German real estate
Germany is one of the top countries to look out for when investing in real estate, and thankfully the iFunded platform makes it easy for investors to get a piece of the German property market.
I recommend reading my detailed iFunded review to see why I decided to invest in German real estate with this platform and what results I obtained.
They still have to fully develop the English version of their content (especially their newsletters which are currently only sent out in German), but it’s nothing that Google Translate can’t solve for you.
8. Bulkestate
The Bulkestate platform, as the name implies, enables real estate investment project crowdfunding and apartment bulk-deals for a price lower than the market value.
Bulkestate concentrates on Latvian real estate, and you can learn all about why they made this choice in my interview with the founder and CEO of this platform, Igor Puntuss, on Mastermind.fm.
You can also read my Bulkestate review for more information about this platform. Average returns are over 14% per year which is very good. You can invest in property development loans or engage in group buying of apartments, which is perhaps a unique feature of this platform and one to keep an eye out for in the coming months.
9. Raizers
Raizers is the platform of choice if you want to invest in French real estate. It’s a platform that has been operating for 5 years with zero defaults. Go ahead and read my Raizers review if you’re looking for investing options in France specifically.
I’ve had the pleasure of discussing Raizers and the French real estate market with Raizers co-founder Maxime Pallain on my podcast, check out that episode if you want to learn more about Raizers. I found Maxime to be very open and knowledgeable and I have no problem trusting this platform based on their track record and solid team.
As I mentioned earlier, I believe that the Baltics together with Germany and Austria offer the best opportunities at the moment.
However, the real estate market is in constant flux due to the numerous factors that affect it, and you, therefore, need to do your homework properly before deciding on an investment. For example, the duration of the investment can be the main differentiating factor between a successful investment and a disastrous one. Some markets offer time-limited but very lucrative investment windows, while other markets have certain properties that make them really stable and thus ideal for long term investments, perhaps at lower rates of return.
I also recommend that you check out my article about the taxation of P2P and real estate platforms in Spain. Although I wrote that article with Spanish residents in mind, the same concepts apply to most other countries in Europe.
Why do Borrowers Obtain Finance from Real Estate Crowdfunding Platforms?
A common question that comes up with investors new to real estate crowdfunding, is why exactly do borrowers go to these platforms when borrowing rates are so low these days? Why don’t they go to the banks directly?
Every entrepreneur and property developer is looking for the best measures to save money and earn a solid profit, so why would they take on debt obligations with an interest rate of 11% per annum?
The answer is not unequivocal as there are several advantages to be taken into account when evaluating financing possibilities on P2P lending platforms and real estate crowdfunding sites:
Speed
When using traditional financing methods, real estate developers often fail to get the desired results within the required timeframe – banks make decisions slowly, the period from application submission to receiving funding may be up to 4-6 months, while P2P lending platforms can provide an indicative offer within 24 hours of submission and money on the borrower’s account within 2 weeks. Developers are happy to use this opportunity as a “bridge” – you can start working on your project while the bank is still evaluating it.
Loan Period
When considering the possibility of using a P2P lending platform for financing your project, it should be taken into account that this is a short-term solution for the sales period of the property, during the development phase of the project or a bridge loan. The major benefit can however be seen in the fact that many of the above platforms allow early repayments with no penalties, so should the borrower sell one of the apartments or establish long-term financing, they can repay the loan earlier if convenient. This means that if the funds were used for 6 months and 6 days, then the interest payment will be calculated for exactly 6 months and 6 days.
No monthly payments
P2P lending platforms normally enable flexible repayment schedules, for example, the possibility to pay both interest and principal at the end of the period – you won’t find this kind of opportunity in traditional financial institutions. This significantly boosts work on a new project by enabling the borrower to fully focus on the project, with no additional liabilities each month. The developer can use the money to actually finance the project, not to pay interest.
Additional marketing
What is the cost of a new development project’s sales campaign in the media and how effectively can you reach people who are interested in real estate? Many of these platforms have thousands of registered investors from different countries interested in property and development, which gives the developers free publicity for their projects.
Doesn’t the publication of a project’s financial data in a public manner negatively affect the eventual sale of the property?
Not really, although it might initially appear to have that effect. In reality, what happens is that the eventual buyer is looking at the property and comparing the price to other properties in the same area in the same conditions. The buyer is also comparing the price and property to other properties he has shortlisted, even in other areas. Therefore, ultimately these two facts are much more important than the limited downside of the project details being published on the platform.
Many platforms also limit access to the project’s most important financial details to investors themselves, meaning the eventual buyer (unless he is an investor himself) would not have seen those details.
Communication and knowledge
A less important factor might be the opportunity to get another partner on board. A partner who understands the business has evaluated dozens of similar projects. If your project gets rejected, it probably means that there is something seriously off and you can go back to the drawing board to make adjustments. With banks, sometimes getting rejected is just the result of excessive bureaucracy and doesn’t mean there is necessarily anything wrong with your project.
When investing in real estate, there are many ways we can put our money to work. Each type of real estate investment carries its own risk factor as well as yield percentage.
Yield VS Risk Relationship in Real Estate Investing
Like any financial product, the higher the estimated yields the higher the risks. Investment opportunities with renovation are placed in a balanced position in the real estate investment type chart, almost in the middle, which is also why they are one of the most popular projects on many crowdfunding platforms.
Which are your favorite types of real investment? I’m a big fan of renovations that last around 8 months from purchase to an eventual sale. I tend to balance my portfolio with this type of investment together with savings opportunities where I get dividends/rent every month and have a constant flow of income.
Ratios that can help you evaluate projects
When you are buying a property, or investing through online real estate crowdfunding platforms. it’s a good idea to keep in mind the following ratios that can help you in judging whether this is a good investment or not.
Price/Rent Ratio
Look at the median price and median rent for the area in which you are considering buying a property. You will want to favor lower ratios versus higher ones.
The 50% Rule
The 50% Rule is just a shortcut to estimate the Net Operating Income or NOI of a rental property.
The 50% Rule says that you will only keep 50% of the rent you collect on an average rental after paying for vacancy, management, taxes, insurance, and maintenance.
The 50% Rule and NOI exclude mortgage costs.
Capitalization Rate
The 50% Rule allows us to quickly determine a cap rate so that we can decide to pursue the deal or not.
A capitalization rate is a tool experienced investors use to compare the performance of one property to another.
In some neighborhoods, a 6% cap rate will be a great deal. In other neighborhoods (usually lower-priced ones) a 12% cap rate or more might be needed to make it worthwhile.
The 1% Rule
The 1% Rule states that your gross monthly income from the rent of a property must equal or surpass 1% of the total investment in that property. By total investment, I mean the purchase price plus fees and expenses to refurbish the property before putting it onto the rental market.
As an easy example, if your total investment into a property was €100,000, then you would want to get at least €1,000 a month in gross rental income.
The 2% Rule
This is exactly the same as the 1% Rule, except this time we are looking for a 2% gross return in monthly rent versus the total investment.
When To Apply Each Rule
The obvious question is, therefore: when should we apply each of these rules. The answer is that it is totally dependent on the area you’re considering. There are some areas where a 2% deal is possible from time to time, and other areas where even a 1% deal would be a real stroke of luck.
The key here is to know the yields being produced in the area and the investments needed to produce those yields. Armed with that information you can then decide whether to apply the 1% or 2% rule to your investment options.
Rule Limitations
Like every shortcut, these rules have limitations. The major limitation you should be aware of is that what matters most in buy-to-let is the net rental income.
Here are a few costs that will eat into your gross monthly rental:
- Taxes
- Insurance
- Maintenance
- Management
- Vacancy/Turnover
- Condominium Fees
Some of these costs will inevitably be equal for all properties in a particular area (taxes is one such example), but others may not (for example maintenance). An older building might meet the 1% Rule criteria while a new building wouldn’t, however, the older building will probably have significantly higher maintenance costs. It might therefore very well be the case that the newer property might end up outperforming the older property even though at first glance and based on the 1% Rule the old building looked like a better investment.
Using the Rules
Given the additional intricacies we discussed, the best use of these rules is for quick filtering and comparison. If you’re using crowdfunding property platforms, for example, you’re likely to have several options to consider every month, and having a few quick rules to sort out the wheat from the chaff will be useful in saving precious time. Once you narrow down your options to a handful of properties, you can then dig deeper until you find your perfect investment.
Do you know of any other platforms that I have not mentioned? Let me know in the comments section.
Hi Jean,
Please have a look at Max Crowdfund. We only obtained the approval from the Dutch regulators un July 2020 but the founders of the group, Max Property Group, have been in real estate for decades. Our CTO is also the ex CTO of Collin Crowdfund, which is now the biggest SME crowdfunding platform in the Netherlands.
It would ve great to have a chat with you when you have a moment.
Best regards,
Jan Angel
You really need to look at CrowdProperty – seriously good… I appreciate you say you’re happy with your UK platform, but do a comparison… Oh, and watch the space their in. I don’t believe they’ll be sticking only to the UK, and they’re firing on all cylinders. I’m an investor. Fantastic platform, strong returns, great schemes, very professionally vetted. The auto invest tool has taken off enormously. Best wishes.
Thanks for pointing that out Nick, I’ll definitely check them out.
Hi Jean,
Thank you for sharing such a great article!
I’m from the US, based out of Mallorca, Spain. I’m interested in becoming a promoter as opposed to an investor. Are there any non-Spanish crowdfunding platforms in Europe you can recommend to get a projects funded in Mallorca?
All the best,
Constanza
Hi Constanza,
Could you please contact us as we are looking to expand Max Crowdfund to Spain?
Best regards,
Jan Angel
These are great options!
This is one of the best articles I have come across for getting introduced to some the best crowd funding European real estate sites. Thanks a lot for sharing this valuable information here, very helpful!!
What do you think about CrowdProperty?
I haven’t looked at that yet, but it’s been around for a long time and that’s a good sign. It seems to be a platform focused on UK property. At the moment I’m quite happy with Property Partner for all my UK property investments, so I don’t think I’ll be switching anytime soon.
Dear Jean,
Nice post, thank you for keeping it updated!
I wonder what’s your perspective about these platforms and, in general, about the real estate crowdfunding “industry” in these turbulent times. What would be your suggestion of a good investment strategy for this crisis that is already starting?
Thanks a lot!
You’re welcome Bruno. Over the past years I’ve been growing less and less enthusiastic about certain aspects of real estate crowdfunding. I would stay away from development loans, especially in countries that are less reliable (I’m looking at Spain, Italy and some of the Baltics in particular). In countries with weak business ethics, lots of bureaucracy, and swings in the political climate loans become a dangerous game as these factors highly increase the chance of the project going off course, with loan repayment being delayed significantly, if it ever gets repaid at all.
In the coming year I would keep an eye out for projects that involve buying properties that have all the fundamentals right. There will definitely be a lot of real estate for sale at a discount, and that opens a window of opportunity for thoes platforms that have strong negotiators on their team and expertise in refurbishing and repurposing buildings.
The idea would therefore be to negotiate a great price for a property with good fundamentals, then spend the next months (while the market is down or in the early stages of recovery) hard at work at refurbishing, before putting them back to the market for sale or for rent when the market is in a better shape.
Hi Jean,
nice article as always.
The downside of the majority of the crowdfunding sites in the Baltic region is that there is nothing to invest in at the moment. Most (Reinvest24, Crowdestate, Bulkestate etc.) have only a couple projects running that are already taken and there is no way to take part in it. Unless I’m doing something wrong and am unable to find anything.
That’s true Kris. I’ll try to reach out to some of these platforms to ask why we are seeing a general slowdown in projects available. On the other hand, I’d rather see fewer and better projects than lots of scantly verified projects. If you want an alternative to the Baltics, I would suggest taking a look at the German real estate platforms.
I had a quick look at iFunded. It looks interesting at first glance, but need to dig a bit deeper and also check out other western European platforms.
Btw. would you konw of any website where one can check newly emerging platforms or any other way to keep track of it?
Thanks for all info and quick replies.
Kris
I would suggest bookmarking eurofinanceblogs.com as I will be adding this feature soon.
Looks great. Lots of info. I’ll definitely add that one to my bookmarks. Thanks very much for your help.
All the best
Kris
Hello how i can investment and take profits i your projects?
Can i work with little capital and earn a monthly profit?
I’m not really sure what you mean there, could you explain further?
Hi Jean,
Again great and helpful article! Two questions from my side as a starter in real estate crowdfunding:
– Which platform should I chose to start (‘practice’) on?
– What amount would you advise to invest as a start?
thank you,
Alexander
Or would you advise me to start on the EvoEstate platform? (however it seems very new)
The guys at EvoEstate are also competent and they are introducing an innovative concept. Be aware that real estate crowdfunding and P2P lending carry a certain degree of risk, so it’s impossible for anyone to give you any guaranteed advice. As investors, the best we can do is look at each platform’s track record as well as the management team in place. We can then use our common sense and financial experience to evaluate each deal put forward by the platforms.
EvoEstate tries to help those who are inexperienced or unwilling to commit the time to do their own research on each opportunity, by acting as the curators of projects, with the premise that they will do good research on all opportunities on the market and only bring the best opportunities to their users. It’s a good concept but again you are trusting others.
As you’re learning the ropes, a good strategy to try and avoid getting burnt on bad projects is to diversify as much as possible. In that way, if you make any bad judgment calls, you won’t lose your whole investment, but only say one or two out of fifty small investments. In my Mintos review, for example, I mentioned my losing money on the Eurocent loans when the loan originator went bankrupt. It was a negative episode but since I was very diversified, it meant that I didn’t lose any of my principal and only took a small hit on my overall returns.
Hi Alexander, one of my favorites at the moment is Reinvest24, they’ve got a great track record and the people managing the platform are very competent.
You should decide for yourself how much to invest; don’t trust anyone who makes any suggestions on how much you should invest unless he is your paid and trusted financial advisor. If you’re new to these types of investments and you’re doing this to learn, you can start off with the minimum investment possible on each platform, and that will give you full access to the project details and outcomes with very little risk.
Jean,
Thank you for rapid reply and the tips that you are giving me! As you are stating I will start small, and get to know the platform(s) and learn/understand how it works. Hopefully it will go well and I can grow into it (my learning curve and the investments).
Will not only diversify within property crowdfunding, but also diversify towards P2P lending platforms.
thank you,
Alexander
You’re welcome Alexander, best of luck!
I use Estateguru. They offer business loans & development loans from the 3 Baltic countries and Finland.
Yes they’re very good too and I’m using them as well, will add to the list.
Jean,
how come most of the property crowdfunding sites seem to originate from the baltic countries?
There are several reasons Chris.
Great Article as usual! I am heavily invested on Mintos and wish to try in estate as well….Do these (all or some) have buyback guarantees as well like Mintos? Thanks
Good choice, no they don’t have as the risk is much lower, being property and not personal loans.
Noted 🙂 Thanks
Hi Jean,
Super interesting information, and very well presented! Thank you for sharing.
Best regards from Amsterdam!
Alex
Welcome Alex and thank you for commenting. Are you aware of any platforms for real estate crowdfunding in the Netherlands?
Hi Jean
Thanks for your work on this site.
All the best
Jorge
Welcome Jorge, keep an eye out on my newest project Euro Finance Blogs for the latest news from other blogs and crowdfunding platforms.
Hi Jean
Have you heard about RealT.com? Is it same investment style with those you are reviewed?
Seems to be a broken link unfortunately.
Sorry …. I mean https://realt.co
Got it, I can’t take a platform with that domain seriously unfortunately. It shows me that they don’t have the basics in place. They should have either chosen another brand name or bought the .com.
It might seem strange of me to dismiss a platform based on a technical detail, but it’s one of the shortcuts I use when evaluating platforms.