Fundrise Aims To Raise $500M To Lend To The Squeezed Real Estate Industry
Online investment platform Fundrise wants to raise a $500M credit fund to lend to residential landlords struggling to get capital because of tightened lending standards and higher interest rates.
“Banks have pulled back and that’s left a hole in the market,” Fundrise CEO Ben Miller told Bloomberg. “We’re filling that gap, wherever we see it and where we like the deal.”
The fund, which is still in its early stages of development, will represent the company's first such venture, according to Bloomberg.
The need for capital is urgent, especially as residential owners struggle with floating-rate debt and face the prospect of loans that need refinancing in the near future.
Even owners of high-performing properties are falling short of what they need to refinance, BMC Capital President and CEO Keith Van Arsdale told Bisnow earlier this month.
Fundrise launched its first offering in 2012, and since then has invested in about $7B in real estate nationwide. The platform oversees about $3B in assets under management on behalf of more than 387,000 individual investors.
Last year, the company looked to profit from a different sort of distress, that of the tech industry, as it formed a fund to invest in late-stage tech startups.
