In an effort to ensure that all Fundrise investors understand the illiquid nature of our product, we typically send each investor a letter titled “What you should expect from us during the next financial crisis” shortly after they make their first investment. The letter (first published in 2017) not only highlights the importance of understanding the illiquid nature of our product, but also outlines our strategy for protecting investors during times of economic turbulence. To quote from it directly:

“... during a financial crisis, there is significant volatility in asset pricing due to the enormous sense of uncertainty about the future...In such circumstances, Fundrise will almost certainly suspend our redemption program and investors should not expect us to provide them with liquidity.”

The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is exactly the type of storm we refer to in the letter – a true black swan, impossible to predict and yet has caused (and almost certainly will continue to cause) massive disruption. As a result, we’ve taken action to protect the entire Fundrise investor community according to the framework outlined in the aforementioned letter.

In March, we chose to suspend the redemption programs for our mature eREITs and eFunds in order to help safeguard our investors’ portfolios from the potential negative consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read more about this decision in our letter to investors titled “We built your Fundrise portfolio to be a fortress in times of uncertainty”. After a thorough analysis, we have resumed the processing of redemption requests, though it's important to remember that we would likely pause redemption programs again in the event of a similar future crisis, and investors should not expect us to provide them with liquidity.

In light of these recent events, we felt it was more important than ever to share this letter with you and reiterate the necessity of having a long-term horizon when investing with us.

While the current level of economic uncertainty can be challenging, we’ve spent the last several years building a portfolio focused specifically on benefitting from the inherent stability real estate can provide and then systematically structuring our investments to protect against downside risk. Though a financial crisis isn’t pleasant to think about — with the right preparation, it can reveal its own unexpected opportunities to come out ahead.

We ask that you please take a moment to read both letters and, as always, provide us with any feedback you may have.

Best regards,

Ben Miller
Co-Founder & CEO
investments@fundrise.com