EstateGuru P2P lending Blog

The real estate market in Germany

Germany is the world’s third-largest exporter, the Eurozone’s largest economy and currently has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world. Unfortunately, due to tensions in international trade and structural changes in the economy, the growth pace of the economy is below 1% and this is not expected to change in the coming years. Unemployment has remained at low levels throughout the last years (3,4% in 2019). In light of the shortage of skills in the labour force and programmes to support flexible working hours, worsening conditions in the labour market are not expected.

Even though weak world trade growth has contributed to further reduction of industrial production and a slowdown in the German economy, the expansionary monetary and fiscal policy will continue to support the growth. At the same time, the weaker external demands are supported by domestic forces. Private consumption is supported by the growth of household disposable income due to fiscal policy measures and growth in wages. Therefore, despite the slowdown in the economy, German Consumer confidence remained high throughout 2019. The construction sector has remained robust and business confidence in the sector is strong. The slowing housing investment in the second quarter of 2019 was largely temporary and mild weather conditions enabled more construction during the winter months and real estate development companies are well stocked with upcoming projects.

Crowdfunding platforms and anti-money laundering activities (AML)

Participating in combating money laundering and terrorist financing plays an important role in ensuring the reliability of the financial system and business environment in general. As we are operating in different European countries and entering into new markets, EstateGuru considers contributing to the fight against money laundering as one of the priority business tasks. Application of AML measures is an unavoidable part of being a sustainable crowdfunding platform, for creating trust and serving clients from different parts of the world.

Why we are strengthening the payment process

EstateGuru has more than 42 000 investors and we are growing fast. Our investors come from many countries that have very different regulations for protecting private investors and requirements for payment service providers. Although crowdfunding does not yet have pan-European regulation in place, we have a fairly good idea of what constitutes best practise and what requirements will emerge:

Keeping funds securely and segregated
Making money movements transparent and traceable
Following AML/KYC procedures
Securing payments

Introducing the Referral Rewards program

We’re incredibly excited to unveil our brand new referral program which aims to make referring friends to EstateGuru even better than before.

Our investors are the most important people at EstateGuru, and we feel it is vital that we show appreciation for your loyalty and trust.

With this in mind, we created our new Referral Rewards program, which lets you reach a series of milestones for inviting friends and acquaintances to EstateGuru and, as you hit these milestones, unlock increasingly exciting rewards.

The present and future of crowdfunding

Mihkel Stamm, Crowdfunding Area Head of FinanceEstonia and COO of EstateGuru

Crowdfunding as a business model has proved itself over the ten years it has existed; the sector is growing rapidly and adding value to the economy. According to a study conducted at the University of Cambridge, Estonia is among the top countries in Europe ranked in terms of per capita volume of alternative funding. Our goal is to become leaders in this field also in terms of quality, stability and technological innovation.