Estateguru is one of the biggest crowdfunding platforms for property-backed loans in Europe. The platform, which is regulated at EU level, has achieved this status by offering a high portfolio quality since its inception in 2013. This has enabled investors to achieve a return of around 10% over many years.
The breaking point happened in 2021 and 2022, when Estateguru pursued an aggressive expansion strategy. This led to massive loan defaults in the following years, which particularly affected the German market. Due to little recovery progress and the introduction of new fee strcutures, the platform has been in decline ever since.
In this Estateguru review, investors get a detailed look at the platform and why it is currently not a serious alternative for investors to consider.
Keep in mind that all the information that are covered in this Estateguru review are based on my own research and personal experiences with the platform since 2018. Please make sure to do your own due diligence before investing on Estateguru or any other platform. More information can be found in the Disclaimer.
Further analyses of other platforms can be found on my P2P Platform Review page.
Summary
Before we get started, here is a quick summary with the most important information about Estateguru.
- Estateguru is an Estonian and EU-regulated crowdfunding platform where investors can invest in property-backed loans and earn a return of up to 12%.
- Estateguru’s vision is to become the leading marketplace for short-term and property-backed loans in Europe.
- With a track record since 2013, Estateguru is one of the most established platforms in the P2P environment.
- Due to aggressive expansion into new markets, especially in Germany, the performance of the loan portfolio has deteriorated massively and caused many defaults.
- The platform’s fee policy showcases a lack of respect for retail investors and also highlights the company’s difficult economic situation.
| Founded / Started: | October 2013 / December 2014 |
| Legal Name: | EstateGuru OÜ (LINK) |
| Headquarter: | Tallinn, Estonia |
| Regulated: | Yes (ECSP License) |
| CEO: | Mihkel Stamm (January 2023) |
| Community Voting 2022: | P30 out of 30 | See Voting |
| Assets Under Management: | EUR 224+ Million |
| Number of Investors: | 163.000+ |
| Expected Return: | 11,25% |
| Primary Loan Type: | Real Estate |
| Collateral: | Mortgage |
| Bonus: | 0.5% Cashback for 90 Days |
About Estateguru
Estateguru is an Estonian P2P platform, launched in October 2013, where investors can invest in property and development loans from Europe with a minimum amount of EUR 50. The interest rate is often around 10%.
The crowdfunding platform, which has been regulated at EU level since May 2023, pursued a sustainable and conservative growth strategy up until the coronavirus pandemic, making Estateguru a solid investment in volatile times.
The aggressive growth trajectory from 2021 onwards, particularly in Germany, has led to a massive deterioration in the performance of the loan portfolio. At its peak, EUR 130+ million of loans were in recovery, which affected more than half of the outstanding portfolio.
The outrageous pricing policy towards its retail investor base illustrates how difficult the financial situation at Estateguru must be.
The Origin Story
Marek Pärtel is an Estonian businessman who has extensive knowledge of the property sector, both as an investor and as a project developer.
After experiencing first-hand that property financing from banks was progressing very slowly and was sometimes not even approved despite sufficient collateral, he came up with the idea of founding an alternative marketplace for property financing.
Together with his two partners, Kaspar Kaljuvee (now CRO) and Marko Arro (now CFO), he then founded the Estateguru platform.
Ownership and Management
Who are the main shareholders and management executives behind Estateguru? Let’s have a look!
Estateguru Ownership
Who owns Estateguru? The Baltic-based P2P platform is operated by the company “Estateguru OÜ”. This company in turn belongs to the parent company “Estateguru Holding OÜ”.
If we look into the Estonian company register, we will find a large number of different shareholders for this company.
The largest shareholders include:
- 17.52% belong to “Meb Trust OÜ”, which is 100% owned by the Estonian “Kristjan-Thor Vähi”.
- 17.23% belong to “Euro Holding OÜ”, which is 100% owned by the Estonian “Marek Pärtel”.
- 11.09% belong to “Sparkle Holding OÜ”, 62.52% of which is owned by the Estonian “Marek Pärtel”.
In accordance with IFRS standards, Marek Pärtel is the ultimate beneficial owner of Estateguru.
Estateguru Management
Estateguru is led by CEO Mihkel Stamm. He has been working for Estateguru since January 2017, initially in the position as COO. In January 2023, he then took over the CEO position from Marek Pärtel, who moved to the Chairman position.
After completing his master’s degree in psychology, Mihkel Stamm worked his way up the career ladder in various positions in the finance and banking industry.
Business Model and Finances
Throughout the process of due diligence, investors should also have a look at the business model of a P2P platform as well as the overall financial situation. How does the company earn money? Does the platform operate profitably? And how well is the company positioned financially? In the following paragraphs of this Estateguru review, you can follow-up on those questions.
Monetization
To understand Estateguru’s revenue model, we take a closer look at its most recently available annual report. The report reveals that Estateguru generated a turnover of EUR 8.3 million through its business model.
In recent years, the majority of revenue has been derived from loan brokerage and commission fees charged to borrowers, typically ranging from 2.5% to 4% of the loan amount. While this revenue stream remained the largest contributor in 2023, its percentage share dropped to 34%, compared to 65% in the previous year. This decline highlights the reduction in new financing activity, as many investors have distanced themselves from the platform due to its weak performance in recent years.
Poor performance and delayed loan projects have led to an increase in other revenue sources which are directly tied to these challenges. These include prolonging fees, penalties, debt management fees, and debt realization charges.
Since 2020, Estateguru has also introduced additional fees for investors. These include a 3% transaction fee for the early sale of projects on the secondary market, an inactivity fee of EUR 10 per month (charged after 12 months), an asset management fee of up to 0.6% p.a., and a withdrawal fee of EUR 3.
Profitability
Is Estateguru profitable? No, Estateguru is not. According to last year’s annual report, the company recorded a negative result of EUR 2.33 million. This means Estateguru has been unprofitable for the past five years in a row.
Estateguru has attempted to reduce costs compared to the previous year. For instance, the company cut over EUR 2 million in labour expenses. However, expenditures remained too high to be offset by the slight increase in turnover.
Balance Sheet
Estateguru’s balance sheet has significantly deteriorated due to the latest key financial figures. The total assets have declined further, and negative equity has risen to nearly EUR 2 million. Additionally, the liquidity ratio has dropped below 1, indicating that current liabilities now exceed current assets.
The company urgently requires support from its shareholders or an external financing round to service its liabilities and avoid the worst-case scenario of potential insolvency. While Estateguru began an economic consolidation process in 2023, it remains uncertain whether this alone will be sufficient.
Sign Up and Bonus
On Estateguru, both natural and legal persons can register on the plaform. The only requirements are a minimum age of 18 and a European bank account. Funds are transferred directly to Lemonway, which is the platform’s partner bank that ensures a proper segregation of funds.
The registration process at Estateguru is very simple and intuitive. After opening an account via email, the KYC and AML questionnaires must be filled out. This is followed by the verification of identity and the declaration of tax residence.
Estateguru Bonus
If you are interested in signing up on Estateguru, you will receive a cashback bonus of 0.5% if you register via this link.
Investing on Estateguru
How does Estateguru work and what should investors know and consider when investing on the plaform? In the following sections of my Estateguru review you will find all the necessary information that you need.
Loan Offering
On Estateguru, investors can invest in three different types of loans:
- Development loans: these are loans used to finance either the planning process of a property or the development/construction of the property itself.
- Bridge loans: Also known as interim financing, these often short-term loans are used to bridge temporary liquidity bottlenecks. As a rule, these loans are usually redeemed by another loan after a short term.
- Business loans: these loans are used to support the day-to-day operations of a business, which may include, but are not limited to, business expansion, the purchase of equipment and goods, or to cover outstanding obligations.
Currently, Estateguru offers loan financing in eight different countries. In addition to the Baltic countries, these include Finland, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Sweden.
The biggest funding sources for the loan portfolio are private retail investors, high net worth individuals and family offices. The proportion of financing from institutional investors, which has risen steadily in recent years and in some cases accounted for up to 30% of the total portfolio, has now fallen to 5%.
Costs and Fees
There are many fees that have been added in recent years for Estateguru investors. Here is an overview:
- 3% Transaction fee for selling on the secondary market
- EUR 3 Withdrawal fee
- EUR 10 Inactivity fee (per month)
- 0.05% Assets under management fee
Especially the introduction of the assets under management fee, in October 2023, has caused dissatisfaction among many investors. As a result, investors have to give up up to 0.6% in annual returns on a properly performing portfolio. Considering the poor performance of the loan portfolio, which has already forced investors to adjust their return expectations downwards, the timing of this introduction could hardly be worse.
In addition, the withdrawal fee has also increased to EUR 3 from 1 June 2024. This is a clear indication that Estateguru wants to earn extra money from the exit of many investors. However, it should be questioned whether the additional income is in proportion to the reputational damage (see Trustpilot) and that this will probably scare away the last and undecided 50-50 investors who initially wanted to wait for the performance of the recoveries.
The full price list can be reviewed on this page.
Expected Returns
The historical return on Estateguru is 10.9%. However, my personal return after 5+ years is only 6.9%, which is lower than what the platform advertises. The loan defaults on Estateguru, which increased heavily in 2023, had a particularly negative impact.
Here is an overview of my personal returns achieved on Estateguru throughout the last few years.
Auto Invest
Investors have three different ways on how to invest on the platform:
- Manual loan selection on the primary market
- Manual loan selection on the secondary market
- Automated investing on the primary market
With the Estateguru Auto Invest feature, investors have the option to set predefined criteria for their loan selection, thus passively managing the investment. Possible configuration criteria include:
- Investment amount: From EUR 50 (but with limited filtering options)
- Interest rate: 8% to +11%
- Loan period: Up to 60 months
- Loan-to-value: Up to 75%
- Collateralization: First-rank or second-rank mortgage
- Borrower country: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden
The full Auto Invest selection options can only be used with a minimum investment amount of €250 per loan. For those who have less money available on Estateguru, it is recommended to select loans manually first to achieve better diversification.
Liquidity
The average loan term is around 12 months, which is an average length for this loan segment. Those who need more liquidity can use the secondary market on Estateguru (3% transaction fee) or the instant exit option (for 35% discount). If this doesn’t offer enough liquidity for you, then you should look for other P2P platforms.
Estateguru Forum
The P2P lending industry is a fast-moving environment. Hence, make sure to stay on top of all relevant information by subscribing to my channels on Telegram or WhatsApp. This way, you will always receive the latest information from the P2P industry, including platform news regarding Estateguru.
Estateguru Taxes
In general, interest income generated by loan financing is considered investment income and must be reported as such on the tax declaration. Unlike other P2P platforms, Estateguru does not withhold taxes on interest income.
Through the dashboard, investors can download an extract of the tax report for the given year, where the corresponding income is listed.
Estateguru Risks
Investors should look very carefully at the potential risk factors when evaluating a P2P platform in order to weigh them before making a potential investment. Here is what investors need to know about potential Estateguru risks.
Corona Crisis / Covid-19 Pandemic
Estateguru is one of the better platforms to come out from the Corona pandemic. The company reacted promptly to the events, initiated measures, implemented them right away and also informed investors immediately about new developments.
The platform responded in blog posts, webinars or Q&A sessions to the most important concerns of investors. The statements have been clearly articulated and potential risks were clearly addressed instead of playing them down.
“We have not suffered a capital loss since 2014 and the average return on loans collected is 10.4%. We expect partial capital losses in some loan cases this year due to the economic situation, but if the portfolio is properly diversified, this would not significantly affect the overall performance of investment returns.”
Measures implemented during the Corona pandemic included:
- Cost reduction of 30%: In particular IT expenses and investment costs for expansion.
- Adjustment of terms and conditions: Extension of loan terms and adjustment of repayment terms.
- Due Diligence: Adjustment of risk assessment for new projects. Increased focus on residential properties in more urban areas and growth regions, with financially strong borrowers and liquid collateral.
- Observation: Cautious approach before offering new loans to the platform.
As a result, Estateguru has been able to grow its outstanding portfolio from EUR 93.3 million (April 2020) to EUR 113.8 million (December 2020) in just half a year. To put this in perspective, by the end of 2021 the portfolio under management was already at EUR 208.8 million.
War in Ukraine
At first glance, the war in Ukraine had no direct impact on Estateguru. Developments in the various borrower countries, which do not include Ukraine or Russia, were largely stable. In addition, there were also no operational restrictions for the Estonia-based platform.
In specially conducted stress tests, the platform concluded that property valuations in all markets would have to fall by approximately 45% for there to be a visible impact on the performance among investors.
“Our team executes regular stress tests and according to our current estimates the real estate markets in all of the countries in which we operate would need to go down an average of at least 45% before our investors’ portfolios are affected.”
Increasing Loan Defaults since 2023
The platform has increasingly struggled with loan defaults since the end of 2022. These include in particular the markets in Germany and Finland.
In June 2024, EUR 132M of funds have been in the debt collection process, which corresponds to a default rate of 52% of the outstanding portfolio. In Germany alone, more than EUR 77M are in the debt collection process. An absolute disaster for the platform, which saw Germany as a big market for its future growth.
Estateguru has deployed many resources to recover the loans in Germany. For example, the company has been working with “Steinberger” in Germany since 2023 to recover their defaulted loans. At the same time, the company has also deployed its own team of lawyers and risk managers. The annual costs for this amounted to EUR 1M in 2023.
As a strategic approach, the decision was made to process each defaulted loan individually instead of selling the entire portfolio at a larger discount of 40% to 60%. However, as the bureaucratic hurdles in Germany are correspondingly high, a recovery period of 3 to 5 years is now expected.
Based on the current market situation, CEO Mihkel Stamm estimates the losses at between 10% and 20%. In an optimistic scenario, however, it is still possible that investors will not suffer any capital losses.
We should also note that we are currently investigating possible violations of our internal regulations by some of our German employees in 2020 and 2021.
The investigations announced in January 2023 regarding internal violations by employees are now said to have been concluded. Although the company did not want to communicate more precise results, the CEO announced that external inconsistencies had been found and that the matter was being investigated further.
Is Estateguru Safe?
In a nutshell, Estateguru can be described as a safe platform.
- The platform holds credit financing licenses in all borrower countries where they are required.
- The platform cooperates with Lemon Way as a payment processor, which ensures segregation of funds.
- The platform is seeking to obtain the European Crowdfunding Service Provider (ECSP) license.
Nevertheless, investors should also pay attention to a few security-related issues: For example, there is no deposit insurance for the funds invested on Estateguru, credit defaults can lead to a loss of capital in case of default, and the economic stability of the platform can also have a negative impact on investors.
Advantages and Disadvantages
In this section, I have listed the most important advantages and disadvantages of Estateguru.
Advantages
- Track Record: With market experience since 2013, Estateguru is one of the more established P2P platforms.
- Regulation: The platform obatined European crowdfunding license in 2023.
- Estonia: The platform has a decent portfolio performance in its home market.
Disadvantages
- Performance: At its peak in 2024, there were more than EUR 132 million of loans in recovery.
- Liquidity: 3% sales fee via secondary market and 35% discount via Estateguru Instant Exit.
- Policy Violation: Estateguru is investigating violations by German team members from 2020/2021.
- Community: Estateguru ranked only 21st out of 30 P2P platforms in 2023 and 2024.
- Costs and Fees: A variety of fees have been introduced for retail investors since 2020.
- Conflicts of Interest: Loans with involvement of Estateguru’s management have not been repaid in full.
Estateguru Alternatives
Real estate platforms have a good tradition in Estonia and the Baltics in general. Some Estateguru alternatives to consider are Crowdpear and Profitus from Lithuania. Both crowdfunding platforms, which are controlled by the Lithuanian central bank and have a European Crowdfunding Licence (ECSP), offer many senior secured real estate projects on their site.
You can find other Estateguru alternatives on the P2P Platform Comparison page.
Community Feedback
Just a few years ago, Estateguru was among the most popular P2P lending platforms. In both 2021 (4.12 points) and 2022 (4.14 points), the platform achieved the second-highest ratings in the annual P2P Community Voting.
However, due to a sharp increase in loan defaults combined with modest recoveries, Estateguru has been heavily penalized in recent years. In the 2023 and 2024 community votings, Estateguru only managed to reach 21st place, and in 2025, it was even voted the worst P2P platform. Its score has also declined year by year since 2022, highlighting the widespread dissatisfaction among many investors.
The Top 5 P2P platforms in 2025 were Viainvest, Debitum, Mintos, Swaper, and Income Marketplace.
Summary Estateguru Review 2025
What is the final verdict of my Estateguru review?
For years, Estateguru has been an attractive option to diversify its loan portfolio with property projects. The platform was established, pursued a conservative risk management approach and delivered stable returns.
However, Estateguru may have ruined its own future with its too aggressive growth plans in the past. The platform’s defaults have increased to over EUR 132 million in 2024, while not delivering any progress on the recovery side. Considering these conditions, coupled with the investor-unfriendly fee structure, the expected returns on the platform are not even close to be competitive.
As long as there is no recognisable progress in recoveries, it is advisable to watch Estateguru from the sidelines for the time being.
If you still want to diversify your portfolio with property-backed loans, you should look at platforms such as Crowdpear or Profitus. The reviews for both Estateguru alternatives can be found on my blog.
FAQ EstateGuru Review
Estateguru is an Estonian and EU-regulated crowdfunding platform where investors can invest in property-backed loans and earn a return of up to 12%.
In accordance with IFRS standards, Marek Pärtel is the ultimate beneficial owner of Estateguru.
Estateguru generated a revenue of EUR 8 million in 2022. According to the numbers of the audited annual report, the platform generated a large part of its revenue through brokerage and commission fees from borrowers.
If you are interested in signing up on Estateguru, you will receive a cashback bonus of 0.5% if you register via this link.
I’m Denny Neidhardt, the founder of re:think P2P. On this blog, I help retail investors make smarter, well-informed investment decisions in the world of P2P lending. Since 2019, I’ve been publishing in-depth analyses, platform reviews, and risk assessments to bring more transparency to this investment space. My goal is to challenge marketing claims, question developments, and empower investors with honest, independent insights.
Lithuanian media (Verslo žinios) about Estateguru’s problems – “Estateguru Investors Are Running Out of Patience: Where’s Our Money?”
https://manopinigai.vz.lt/investavimas/estateguru-investuotoj-kantrybe-baigiasi-kur-musu-pinigai/
Search Google and translate: „Estateguru“ investuotojų kantrybė baigiasi: kur mūsų pinigai?
“The pile of questions that Estateguru urgently needs answers to is growing.
in 2023 Mihkel Stamm, looking ahead to 2022, said that the company is under investigation into possible violations of internal rules by some members of the German team in 2020-2021. However, the results of this study have not been reported so far.
Also, the company’s 2023 a November news release on German loan portfolio solutions promises: “Results are expected to be seen as early as Q2 2024.”
However, the II quarter ends, investors do not have any new information.
“Estateguru chose not to answer the questions asked by “Verslo žinios” regarding the company’s internal investigation and the German portfolio.”
Thanks for sharing, Justas. I recommend watching the latest interview that I conducted with Estateguru CEO Mihkel Stamm for further insights. Unfortunately, the announcement on increased fees and fired staff came a few days after our conversation. Still, lots to learn about approach in German market.
Thank You
aucune vidéo trouvée de votre interview.
Lithuanian media (“Verslo žinios”) report – a property valuation professional’s comment about German loans
https://manopinigai.vz.lt/investavimas/s-vagonis-apie-estateguru-vokietijos-paskolas-uzstat-vertes-kliuvo-jau-pries-3-m/
Google translate (LT->EN):
Saulius Vagonis, head of the Valuation and Market Research Department of the real estate (NT) service company Ober-Haus, after reading in “Mano pinigaoi” about the waning patience of Estateguru investors due to stuck loans, says that he raised questions with the platform about loans in Germany as early as 2021. and he didn’t hear the answers either.
Estateguru investors complain that they do not receive not only the promised interest, but also clear information about their investments in the various loans distributed through this platform.
After reading about their anger, real estate appraisal expert S. Vagonis recalled how he had approached Estateguru 3 years ago directly asking about “very strange loans issued in Germany”.
“Then they looked at my remarks very calmly and confidently. Oh, it turns out I was right,” he says today.
S. Vagonis claims that he was interested in the platforms not only as a potential investor, but also as a representative of the community of evaluators.
“The reputation of appraisers was severely damaged after the bankruptcies of Snoro and Ūkio bankas and several unions, we really didn’t want something like that to happen when the platforms broke. It was important for me to understand the quality of the assessments they use,” explains the expert.
He shared in 2021. correspondence with Estateguru Group Marketing Manager Egle Kučinske, who inquired about loans to BKFI Zweite Beteiligungs GmbH.
For this company, according to S. Vagonis, “Estateguru” (through 4 loans with 4 collaterals) collected about 3.2 million. Eur investors’ money.
He pointed out that the loanable amounts (the maximum LTV ratio of the projects – the ratio of the loan size to the value of the mortgaged property) were calculated based on the valuations signed by an appraiser who had not had a license for a year, who still used the requisites of HypZert (a certification body for property appraisers in Germany) and stamp
“The appraisal reports are written incoherently, with grammatical errors, it is not even clear from them what is the object of the appraisal – are the plots mortgaged to Estateguru, or can future buildings be built on them?” S. Vagonis tried to find out at the time.
He wrote to “Estateguru” that it never answered his questions, what statistics were used to assess the price ranges of land plots?
“The official statistics I found in the case of Dahme/Mark (one of the projects of BKFI Zweite Beteiligungs GmbH) are ten times higher than the figures presented in the evaluation reports,” S. Vagonis taught, also noting that from the information provided he cannot understand whether to pledge plots definitely have building permits.
“Is the development depicted in those dubious ‘projects’ really permissible and coordinated?” For example, there are articles in the German press about residents’ opposition to construction on the Liebenwald site. The Dahme/Mark plot is agricultural on existing maps, marked as a green zone,” he explained.
Invested automatically
Many of the investors who spoke to “My Money” today admit that they did not ask Estateguru questions, did not analyze the proposed projects too much.
Darius, who does not want to reveal his last name, says that he invested over 20,000 euros in German loans.
“Maybe even in every loan offered there, because I invested through the automatic investment service, setting the minimum amount – 50 EUR. I didn’t delve too much into those evaluations – I trusted the Estateguru company: after all, it did the evaluation and selected that loan as a good one, because now it offers me to invest in it,” Darius teaches, emphasizing: he did so because he thought he was investing in a supervised platform .
“It was a platform regulated by the Bank of Lithuania, so I invested with confidence, just as I invest in almost all platforms operating in Lithuania,” he explains.
According to Darius, about 7,000-8,000 EUR of the money invested through “Estateguru” are “frozen” today.
“And, probably, you need to be prepared that they will not be returned. Unless some kind of miracle happens,” he thinks.
It seemed primitive to a specialist
However, the analysis of at least one project by S. Vagonis shows that there was a lack of basis for investors’ confidence here.
“Looking at the primitive visualizations, as well as the inconsistencies between these visualizations and the building plans, doubts arise both about the fact of the construction permits received, and about the adequacy of the values of the plots themselves. Did “Estateguru” check the fact of the construction permits and their compliance with the published visualizations?” S. Vagonis asked about the already mentioned project.
He taught that in the absence of building permits or if they are issued for a different development than what is depicted in the visualizations, the land values provided are not suitable for calculating the LTV indicator.
“Moreover, there is no usable value of the future buildings for the LTV calculation (in the case of the Liebenwalde loan),” he said.
Emphasizing that the value of a plot of land depends on the specific possibilities to build something on that land, S. Vagonis explained in capital letters to “Estateguru” that one cannot be guided by average values until all the circumstances have been examined.
He recalled the recovery of Nordstreet’s loan at that time, when the platform granted a 320,000 EUR loan for a mortgaged plot, but the protection zones provided for in it severely limited possible activities.
“The amount of EUR 320,000 may correspond to the price level of the area (if the plot was without protection zones), but the real transaction with the plot was only EUR 33,000 – i.e. was 10 times lower than the average price cuts in the area,” he taught.
He promises to answer the questions
In response to S. Vagonis’ questions in 2021 in the letter, E. Kučinskė promised that the company would take additional steps regarding the property valuation in a specific German project that raised questions for him.
“I remember the correspondence with S. Vagonis, but whether there were any additional assessments and other actions, I certainly cannot say now,” she says today.
According to the investors, their Estateguru accounts currently state that this loan is in default.
Mihkel Stamm, CEO of Estateguru, promises to answer all the questions investors have this week in a podcast dedicated to the topic.