Investing in SME real estate debt presents a compelling opportunity for investors at all levels — including professional and institutional investors — amidst Australia’s efforts to fill the gap in its ‘missing middle’ housing supply.

It’s difficult to achieve this at scale, however, given that lending to multiple small projects takes time and expertise, as well as resources and technology that even larger institutional investors lack.

This is where specialised non-bank lenders like CrowdProperty have the solution.

A non-bank lender specialising in the SME property development sector, CrowdProperty is an expert provider of private debt investment options to institutional, wholesale, and retail investors, with a 100% track record of capital and interest repayments to date.

CrowdProperty’s expert in-house team does the work to originate SME property project loans, enabling many investors — retail investors, institutional investors, family offices, wholesale investors, private credit funds, financial advisors, and more — to invest in multiple small-scale loans without all the work and resources associated with finding and selecting the developers, projects and loans themselves.

It’s small-scale real estate debt, at scale.

The company’s bespoke online platform makes small-to-medium property project loans accessible to investors without the need for their own due diligence. The capability to invest in multiple small-scale project loans allows investors to diversify their portfolio by geographic location, project type, and loan term.

CrowdProperty’s specialist expertise in assessing loan creditworthiness enables them to effectively deliver on their investment funds’ objectives. Their strong track record proves this, with the UK sister company repaying over £300 million (AU$614 million) in capital and interest over 10 years, and Australia repaying over $12 million within its first three years.

Here are five reasons why investors could consider CrowdProperty as an investment option for private debt.

1. Unmatched expertise in the property sector

The deep experience within CrowdProperty’s team of property sector specialists is its greatest differentiator. Describing their business as ‘a financial platform founded by frustrated developers’, the CrowdProperty team collectively possesses over a century’s worth of experience in residential development, across both the Australian and UK housing markets. For example:

• Property director, Brian Cullen has more than two decades of diverse experience in property development, project management, construction, and property-related financial services. This includes a decade as a developer and builder, completing over 50 projects.

• Property developer manager, Chris Bentley is a development and construction finance professional with experience in construction as a project engineer, estimator and project manager across the residential, civil and commercial construction sectors.

• Director and COO, Tony Zulli is a 30-year investment industry veteran with significant experience as a company director, investment committee, and responsible manager.

• Head of operations, Lisa Digby is an accomplished executive manager with 20 years experience in finance, wealth management, and housing policy.

• Finally, CEO and co-founder, David Ingram is a strategic advisor in strategy and operations who built and exited a successful platform-as-a-service marketplace technology business for home loan, utilities and insurance comparison (exited to the Ray White Group).

2. Specialisation in small-scale residential construction

CrowdProperty is singularly focused on financing quality residential projects undertaken by small-to-medium-enterprise (SME) property developers. Typically lending to projects with gross realisation value (GRV) of between $3m and $6m, but can lend on projects with GRV up to $10m.

With Australia in the grip of a nationwide home affordability crisis, battling a severe dwelling supply shortage relative to steadily rising demand, there is a demand for increased private debt finance for property development, especially in-fill developments in established urban areas, often referred to as ‘missing middle’ homes.

As the Australian government works with the property sector to address the scarcity of home supply, investors have a unique opportunity to benefit from the need to finance growth in home supply.

3. Expert selection of quality projects

While the need to build more homes in Australia presents new alternative investment opportunities, not every project is right for every investor.

CrowdProperty’s wealth of expertise in property development makes it the ideal partner for conducting due diligence on residential housing investments (in the form of property project loans).

CrowdProperty’s specialist team uses a proprietary 57-step due diligence process to ensure the project loans it curates stand the highest chance of being repaid successfully to investors.

The expert borrower team, investment committee and advisory board — including two of the UK sister company’s most experienced property finance specialists — partner with developers throughout the journey to help deliver successful outcomes for both developers and investors.

4. Track record of success

The ability of CrowdProperty’s expert team to deliver results is proven by the platform’s track record of delivering returns to investors.

Since launching in Australia in 2021, the company has seen over $1.5b in loan applications, funding 19 loans to date, worth $34.2m. They’ve also curated a pipeline of $40m in potential projects to fund over the next two months (as of March 2025), with much more forecast for the rest of 2025.

CrowdProperty provides retail investors with the opportunity to earn up to 8.5 percent per annum target income returns, backed by first mortgage security. Wholesale investors can earn up to 10 percent per annum target income returns.

CrowdProperty has already repaid over $12m to its first investors — a 100 percent track record of capital and interest returns.

Originally formed in the UK in 2013, CrowdProperty UK has lent over £433 made £357m ($860m) in loans to British developers, funding the construction of homes worth over £897m ($1.78b).

5. Favourable SQM rating

SQM Research — one of Australia’s leading investment research houses, with specialisation in property funds management, including private credit/debt funds — gave CrowdProperty’s Wholesale and Retail Investment Trusts a “favourable” 3.75 star rating.

This signifies “moderate potential to outperform over the medium-to-long term,” attesting to the quality and reliability of CrowdProperty’s team and processes, reinforced by its inclusion on approved product lists (APLs).

The SQM Research report highlighted strong backing from CrowdProperty’s UK-based partner, as well as the innovative, proprietary technology that powers its loan management and investment platform.

It also pointed to the safety offered by first mortgage security on all loans, and a conservative portfolio loan-to-value ratio of 54 percent, ensuring a balanced and secure investment approach.

Get in touch with CrowdProperty to access SME developer investment opportunities vetted by a team of property experts.

CrowdProperty provides fast, simple and transparent property project finance for property professionals, learn more.