Funds collected by crowdfunding platforms fell by 25% year-on-year in the first half of 2024, according to the latest crowdfunding barometer in France published by Forvis Mazars and France FinTech. Real estate is the main segment in this area but, since last year, it has suffered from the sector crisis. Already, last year’s figures showed a decline: “If real estate bond crowdfunding remains the driving force of participatory financing in France, in 2023 it records a clear decline (-28%) and no longer weighs “only” 55.6 % of overall collection (compared to 68.2% last year)”, indicated the previous report.
This contraction is therefore accentuated in the first half of the year, with, at the same time, payment difficulties setting in. Real estate crowdfunding works in the form of short-term bonds, with a profitability approaching 11%. In theory at least. Because the Mazars barometer reveals that on the stock of files in progress, “we reach the bracket of 15 to 20% for delays of more than six months”.
Worse, “a proportion of projects overdue by more than six months at the end of 2023 have gone into collective procedure, this category now representing 4 to 6% of projects in progress”. Finally, final losses are also increasing: they affect between 2 and 4% of projects.
At the other end of the spectrum, the financing of projects linked to the energy transition appears to be “very resilient”. With a collection of 122 million euros over the first six months of the year, it is benefiting from strong winds. The year 2023 had already seen an increase of 11.5%.