Real Estate Crowdfunding Returns 2026: 9.8% to −7.45% Range

Everybody wants to know the number. "What will I make?" It's the first question, and the honest answer is: it depends on what you buy, which platform you use, how long you hold, and whether you get unlucky.

But "it depends" is a useless answer. So I pulled the actual data — verified numbers from platform disclosures, SEC filings, and third-party sources — and put it all in one place. No cherry-picking the best years. No hiding the bad ones. Just what the platforms have actually delivered to real investors. For the most recent quarter's figures across every major non-accredited platform, our Real Estate Crowdfunding Performance Tracker Q1 2026 keeps the same verified, SEC-sourced data current.

The Two Types of Returns (and Why It Matters)

Before looking at any numbers, you need to understand the two fundamentally different ways crowdfunding platforms generate returns:

This distinction explains why two people can invest in "real estate crowdfunding" and have completely different experiences. One earns a steady 7% from Groundfloor Notes. The other loses 15% in a Fundrise down year. They're playing different games.

Platform-by-Platform Returns: The Actual Data

Here's what each major platform has delivered to investors, using their own reported data plus third-party verification.

Fundrise (Non-Accredited, $10 Minimum)

Fundrise is the largest crowdfunding platform by investor count, and they're unusually transparent about returns. (For a detailed comparison of how Fundrise stacks up head-to-head, see our Fundrise vs Arrived Homes and Fundrise vs Groundfloor analyses.) Here are their advisory client account returns, net of fees, from their official performance page:

Source: Fundrise official client returns page (fundrise.com/client-returns), accessed April 2026.

What this tells you: Fundrise's average return across 2018–2025 is roughly 6.8% annually — not bad, but not spectacular. The real story is the volatility comparison. In 2022, when public REITs cratered 25%, Fundrise investors were up 1.5%. In 2023, when REITs bounced back 11.5%, Fundrise was down 7.5%. Private real estate smooths out the swings, for better and worse. You'll never ride a 40% wave like public REITs in 2021, but you'll never eat a 25% loss either. (For the full head-to-head with REIT ETFs, see our Fundrise vs REITs comparison. For a broader category-level comparison including tax treatment, liquidity, and fraud risk, see Real Estate Crowdfunding vs REITs.)

The catch: Your money is locked. Fundrise has a 5-year recommended holding period and charges early redemption penalties. The "average income return" is about 4.8% annually — the rest comes from unrealized appreciation that you only collect if you hold long enough.

Groundfloor (Non-Accredited, $10 Minimum)

Groundfloor is debt-only — you lend to fix-and-flip developers and earn interest. Their headline number is ~10% average returns since 2013. (Read our full Groundfloor review for default rates, product breakdowns, and who it's best for.)

Source: Groundfloor official platform data and 2025 Momentum Report.

What investors actually report: Anywhere from 3% to 12%, depending on loan selection and how many defaults hit your portfolio. The typical diversified investor with 30+ loans reports 7–10%. If you concentrate in fewer loans, you're rolling dice.

The default reality: Roughly 5% of Groundfloor loans default. But here's the nuance — the average return on defaulted loans is still about 6%, because the underlying real estate collateral gets liquidated. The bigger risk isn't losing money — it's having your capital locked up for 2+ years while foreclosure grinds through the courts.

Notes are the standout product: 100% of investors have received positive returns on Notes, with every payment on time since 2018. They paid out $8.4 million in interest in 2025. Lower ceiling (5.75–7.50%), much higher floor.

Arrived Homes (Non-Accredited, $100 Minimum)

Arrived lets you buy shares of individual rental properties. Returns come from two sources: quarterly dividends (rental income) and property appreciation (when sold).

Source: Arrived quarterly financial performance reports (Q4 2024, Q1-Q3 2025), published on arrived.com/blog.

The honest assessment: (See our full Arrived Homes review for the deep dive.) The dividend yields are modest — 3.7–4% on single-family rentals won't blow anyone away. The real return depends on property appreciation, which Arrived projects at 4–7% annually but which you only realize when properties sell. A few property sales have produced 20–35% total returns, but those are the highlights. Arrived paid out $10.5 million in total dividends across all investors in 2025.

The concern: Vacation rentals at 2.3% yield are barely beating a savings account. The Private Credit Fund at 8.1–8.4% is more compelling but is a different product entirely (debt, not equity).

EquityMultiple (Accredited Only, $5,000 Minimum)

EquityMultiple is where the headline numbers get exciting — and where you need to be most skeptical.

What they report: An average annualized return of 17% on realized investments since 2015, and an overall realized IRR of 18.1% across 234 completed deals as of October 2024. Ongoing investments project a 13.8% return.

Why you should be cautious:

1. "Realized investments" means only deals that have fully exited. Deals that went badly and haven't resolved yet aren't in that number.
2. Survivorship bias is real — EquityMultiple selects roughly 5% of the deals pitched to them, so their platform return reflects aggressive screening.
3. $5,000 minimums and accredited-only means this isn't accessible to most people.
4. Their target returns range widely: debt deals target 7–12%, preferred equity 7–12%, equity deals target mid-teens IRR. The 17% average is pulled up by the equity winners.

Bottom line: EquityMultiple's numbers are legitimate for what they measure, but they're not comparable to Fundrise's returns because they're measuring different things. Fundrise reports what all investors earned. EquityMultiple reports what completed deals returned. (Read our full EquityMultiple review for the deep dive on fees, Alpine Notes, and trust issues.)

RealtyMogul (Both Accredited and Non-Accredited)

RealtyMogul runs two non-accredited REITs plus accredited-only individual deals.

Source: RealtyMogul official platform data, NerdWallet 2025 review, CRE Daily 2026 review.

What this means: The Income REIT's 9.21% lifetime figure looks strong, but its current dividend is approximately 1.5% of NAV (Q2 2026) and both RealtyMogul REITs have been closed to new money since July 11, 2025. But the $5,000 minimum is high compared to Fundrise ($10) or Groundfloor ($10), and RealtyMogul is less transparent about year-by-year performance.

How Crowdfunding Compares to Everything Else

Here's the comparison most investors actually want — how does putting money into crowdfunding stack up against the alternatives?

The uncomfortable truth: Over the past 10 years, a simple S&P 500 index fund has crushed every non-accredited crowdfunding option on raw returns. Public REITs have underperformed, but they're liquid — you can sell in seconds. Crowdfunding platforms fall somewhere in between, with the added cost of locking up your money for years.

The case for crowdfunding anyway:

1. Diversification — Real estate doesn't move in lockstep with stocks. In 2022, when the S&P 500 fell 18% and public REITs fell 25%, Fundrise returned +1.5%.
2. Access — You can invest in real estate with $10 instead of $50,000+.
3. Income — Crowdfunding generates regular cash distributions that stocks often don't.
4. Lower volatility — Private real estate values don't swing 25% in a year the way public markets do.

But none of these advantages overcome the liquidity cost if you need the money. Never invest in crowdfunding with money you might need in the next 5 years.

What Actually Eats Your Returns

Before fees, check that the return being quoted was earned by the fund you are buying. FISYN Fund II advertises a 31.3% average investor return over five years, but its Reg A+ offering only opened in May 2025 and its own filing reports $0 of revenue and no properties owned — so the record belongs to earlier vehicles that never filed audited results.

Fees

Every platform charges something. Here's what you're actually paying:

Groundfloor's zero-fee model for loans and Notes is genuinely exceptional. On every other platform, 1% annual fees compound to meaningful drag over a 5–10 year hold. On a $10,000 investment earning 8%, a 1% annual fee costs you roughly $800 over 10 years in lost compounding. For a complete fee comparison across every major platform, see our real estate crowdfunding fees compared guide.

Defaults and Delays

In 2024, approximately 15–20% of crowdfunding projects were more than 6 months behind schedule, and 4–6% of operations faced final losses. This isn't rare. This is the industry baseline.

When a Groundfloor loan defaults, your money doesn't just earn less — it's frozen. A loan marketed as 6 months can tie up your capital for 2+ years while foreclosure winds through the courts. No secondary market exists. You can't sell it. You just wait.

Platform Failures

This is the risk no return number captures:

• PeerStreet — Filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2023. Investors had approximately $144 million trapped in defaulted loans. Many are still waiting for recovery three years later.
• CrowdStreet — CEO Tore Steen stole $63 million from investors through a fake fund in 2023, leading to a $1 billion class-action lawsuit. The platform's marketplace shut down.
• RealtyShares — Shut down in 2018 after running out of operating capital.

These weren't obscure platforms. They were well-reviewed, heavily marketed, and had thousands of investors. Platform risk is real and it's not priced into the return numbers. For a complete breakdown of every risk category, read our guide on the real risks of real estate crowdfunding.

The Tax Hit Nobody Talks About

How your returns are taxed matters almost as much as the returns themselves.

In plain English: If you earn 8% from a Groundfloor loan and you're in the 24% tax bracket, you keep about 6.1% after federal taxes. If you earn 8% from a stock that qualifies for long-term capital gains, you might keep 6.8% or more. That 0.7% difference compounds over years.

The K-1 filing requirement on equity deals is also a real cost — accountants charge extra for K-1 filings, and if the investment operates in a different state than where you live, you may need to file a state return there too. We break down every tax scenario in detail in our crowdfunding taxes guide.

How to Maximize Your Crowdfunding Returns

Based on everything above, here's what actually moves the needle:

1. Diversify across 15–30+ investments. Single-deal concentration is gambling, not investing. Spread across multiple loans (Groundfloor) or use diversified funds (Fundrise, Arrived SFR Fund).

2. Match the investment to your timeline. If you need money in 2 years, use Groundfloor Notes (30-day to 12-month terms). If you can lock up capital for 5+ years, Fundrise or equity deals make more sense.

3. Don't chase the highest number. EquityMultiple's 17% IRR is real but comes with $5K minimums, illiquidity, and accredited-only access. Groundfloor Notes at 5.75–7.50% with zero fees and a perfect track record is a better risk-adjusted return for most people.

4. Keep crowdfunding under 10–15% of your portfolio. This is a complement to stocks and bonds, not a replacement. The S&P 500 has returned 14.8% over 10 years with instant liquidity. Don't over-allocate to an illiquid alternative just because it sounds cooler.

5. Reinvest distributions. Most platforms offer automatic reinvestment. Use it. Compounding is the only free lunch in investing.

6. Account for fees. A platform reporting 10% gross returns with 1.5% in fees delivers 8.5% net. Compare net-of-fee returns, always.

Related coverage

For more on this topic from CrowdfundedWealth:

• Real estate crowdfunding vs REITs — Honest 2026 return data, not platform marketing.
• Best passive real estate income investments 2026 — Ranked by monthly payout, not headline yield.
• Fundrise portfolio comparison: Income vs Growth vs VC — Real return data per portfolio type.
• Fundrise Review 2026 — What Fundrise has actually returned, with hidden fees included.
• Fundrise vs REITs — Which actually performs better over 5+ years.

Last updated: April 2026. All return data is historical and not guaranteed. This article contains affiliate links — see our affiliate disclosure for details. We are not financial advisors. This is educational content, not investment advice. Read our disclaimer for more.