For example, he says, in February Fundrise posted a pre-development, $500,000 pre-development bridge loan in Brooklyn and it sold out in just over three hours. Also legitimizing this financing method is Fundrise's purchase of senior secured bonds with a 5% tax-free return that will help fund the development of 3 World Trade Center.

Interest in the segment has grown, Miller notes. “Every month we see growth on the Fundrise platform—more investors looking for high yield, quality real estate investments and more real estate companies drawn to the flexible funding we can provide. We are excited to watch the crowd participate in more quality real estate projects.”

Crowdfunding has a number of drivers in the current market, notes Robert Lee, director, capital markets, Silver Portal Capital. They are the continuing increase in CRE crowdfunding participants' average net worth; increasing average project size; more experienced plaforms coming into the market; a diversification of investors and the fact that crowdfunding is becoming mainstream.

Still, the sector is set to go through some growing pains, he said. “While real estate crowdfunding certainly has taken off, there will be consolidation. The groups who lack experience underwriting equity risk and operator strategies will likely be folded into the more successful platforms that gain early adoption by larger institutional equity investors. Consequently, because most institutional investors do not want the responsibility of verifying and aggregating accredited investors into their capital base, they will rely on sophisticated platforms to underwrite deals, strategies, and operators, and handle regulatory and compliance requirements.”