CrowdStreet, a top real estate investment marketplace, has topped $1 billion in direct equity investment from individual (accredited) investors. The company provides access to real estate investments in commercial property.
CrowdStreet CEO Tore C. Steen called crossing the one billion mark a significant milestone for his platform as well as the real estate industry:
“As real estate sponsors continue to move their fundraising operations and investment management activities online, and as more investors expect more online investing options, supply and demand are feeding off of each other. As sponsors allocate more investment opportunities to CrowdStreet, and more investors select to participate in the deals, even more sponsors see the value in bringing their deals to the Marketplace. It’s a virtuous cycle that’s resulted in CrowdStreet having one of the largest and most diverse online Marketplaces for developers and operators to raise capital, and for individual investors to diversify their investment portfolios.”
CrowdStreet has emerged as one of the leading real estate crowdfunding platforms as over the years the sector of Fintech has evolved and several platforms now have established themselves as viable operations.
Since launch in 2014, CrowdStreet added that over $100 million in investment returns have been distributed to platform investors. The company reports a community of over 80,000 investors and 193 real estate operators and developers. CrowdStreet said that 2019 was a record year with over $511 million invested via the platform or more than the 5 prior years. Distributions hit $58 million during 2019 – more than double the amount distributed in all prior years.
CrowdStreet shared the following key metrics:
- Over $50 million invested in the first five CrowdStreet Blended Portfolio Series
- More than $13.7 billion worth of real estate assets have been launched in the Marketplace
- 23 realized offerings with a dollar-weighted average realized return of 31.4 IRR* and a 1.54x equity multiple on a 2.1 year holding period
David J. Fishman, highlighted as a repeat investor on the platform, said the accomplishments were not surprising at all:
“Savvy investors are quickly figuring out that diversifying and investing in commercial real estate makes sense and what CrowdStreet offers in terms of deal flow, insight into the offerings, and ease of investment and tracking is the best option available today.”
Top deals during 2019 include:
- 425 investors committed $27 million within a few hours ($1 million every 4.5 minutes) on the platform for an office-to-residential redevelopment of a 208,000 SF 12-story office tower in Alexandria, Va. sponsored by D.C. real estate investment firm PRP.
- 436 investors committed $25 million within a few hours ($1 million every 7 minutes) for an Opportunity Zone redevelopment in Atlanta. The project was sponsored by Parkway Property Investments, LLC.
- 407 investors invested $14 million overnight for a new 163,000-square-foot office building in downtown Milwaukee, sponsored by J. Jeffers & Co.
- 200 investors invested more than $10 million for the redevelopment of a historic downtown Chicago property into a dual-branded hotel, with a 135-room Hilton Garden Inn and a 214-room Canopy by Hilton, sponsored by Phoenix Development Partners.