Benkey - Risk and return review
Benkey - Returns and loss rates
Benkey – Platform statistics 2026
300
investors
Benkey – Pros & Cons
About Benkey
What it is
Benkey is a Dutch property investment firm in Laren, run by Benkey Fund Management B.V. and founded in 2020. It is not a small-ticket crowdfunding site: it serves wealthy private and business investors. It offers two products: the Benkey Property Fund, launched in August 2024, which owns Dutch commercial buildings (offices, light industrial and retail, no housing), and loan participations in individual business property loans. The fund page gives a current size of more than €150 million (October 2026); in July 2026 Benkey reported €180 million of managed fund assets in thirteen buildings. It says it has more than 300 investors (no date given).
How it works
In the fund you buy units from €250,000, add at least €50,000 at a time, and your holding may never fall below €100,000. Units are bought and sold at the latest valuation on trading days: the fund page says monthly, the FAQ says about eight times a year (October 2026). The recommended holding period is seven years. In the loan product you lend at least €100,000 to one property owner for 12 to 36 months at a fixed rate of 6% to 8% a year after costs, with interest paid monthly. Individual loans are shown only inside the investor portal.
Returns
The fund's results so far are very high, but mostly on paper. The audited 2025 accounts show a net return of 38.8% for the large-investor class and 34.4% for the standard class; Benkey itself calls 2025 exceptional. Since the start in August 2024 the fund reports 67.4% in total, which is about 27.8% a year, calculated from the platform's own figures. Most of it comes from higher valuations of buildings the fund still owns: in 2025 revaluations added €17.34 million, against €3.18 million of net rental income. These figures are before exit fees. The fund's own target is 12% to 15% a year. For the loans, Benkey advertises 6% to 8% a year but publishes no figure for what investors actually received.
Losses and defaults
Benkey publishes no figure for defaults, late payments, losses or recoveries on its loans, and does not define a default. The fund is too young for a loss record. Its key information document (November 2024) rates the fund 6 on a risk scale of 1 to 7, with a bad-case result of minus 6% after one year. Without such data, investors cannot see whether any loan has gone wrong.
What secures your money
Loans are secured by a first-rank mortgage on the property, at no more than 75% of its value; Benkey does not publish how that value is set, and there is no buyback, reserve fund or insurance. If a borrower breaks the loan terms, the lender can enforce the mortgage; no record of what was recovered is published. The fund owns its buildings through a separate foundation, Stichting Juridisch Eigenaar Benkey Vastgoed, which keeps them apart from the manager's own debts; it uses Rabobank as its bank and says an external custodian (CSC) will be used once it holds a full fund licence. The fund borrows heavily: €72.9 million of debt, 57.8% of the property value at the end of 2025. In plain words: the loans have a building behind them, while the fund's value moves with property prices, and borrowing makes those moves larger in both directions.
Who runs it and its licence
The Dutch regulator (AFM) lists Benkey B.V. with an exemption to act as an intermediary for business mortgage loans (number 19000069, since 9 November 2021). This is not a crowdfunding licence. The fund runs under the lighter Dutch registration regime for small fund managers; Benkey applied for a full fund-manager licence in October 2025 and says the application is still pending (October 2026). Benkey's own pages warn that the loans, and according to the fund page also the fund, sit outside AFM supervision. The fund's 2025 accounts were audited by BDO without qualification (May 2026).
Fees
Fund investors pay a yearly management fee of 1.5% (1.3% from €2.5 million), plus a performance fee of 35% of the return above 7.5% a year (25% from €2.5 million). Transaction costs are charged when you buy or sell units, and running costs apply on top. Exit fees are 2%, plus 6% extra within one year and 3% extra within five years. Loan investors pay no entry fee; the rate quoted is after costs.
Getting your money out
You can sell fund units only on trading days, from €25,000, at the latest valuation and after exit fees. Benkey can suspend sales and close the fund for exits if it runs short of cash. Since April 2026 units can also be transferred to another investor, but only through the fund and with Benkey's approval; no transfers have been reported. Loan money comes back when the borrower repays at the end of the term; there is no market to sell loans.
Our view
Return: Very High — the fund reports 67.4% since August 2024, about 27.8% a year, though mostly from higher building valuations rather than cash paid out. Risk: High (higher means more risk) — no loss or default figure is published for the loans, the loans sit outside AFM supervision, and the fund's gains rest on valuations and borrowed money. Risk-return: Medium — a very high return so far for a high level of risk, with large minimums and costly early exits.
Regulation
License / Regulation: The Dutch regulator (AFM) lists Benkey B.V. (now Benkey Fund Management B.V., KvK 76972143) with an exemption to act as an intermediary for business mortgage loans, number 19000069, since 9 November 2021. This is not a crowdfunding licence. The property fund runs under the Dutch light registration regime for small fund managers (AIFMD-light); a full AIFMD licence was applied for in October 2025 and was still pending in October 2026. Benkey states that its business property loans fall outside AFM supervision.
Functionality
For Investors
Useful Information
Partly. The Dutch regulator (AFM) lists Benkey with an exemption to arrange business mortgage loans (number 19000069, since November 2021). The fund is registered under the light regime for small fund managers, and a full licence application from October 2025 is still pending. Benkey says its loans fall outside AFM supervision.
No payment institution is named. The fund banks with Rabobank, and its buildings are held by a separate foundation, Stichting Juridisch Eigenaar Benkey Vastgoed, apart from the manager's own debts. Loan money is paid through a notary.
€250,000 for a first investment in the fund (top-ups from €50,000; your holding may not drop below €100,000), and €100,000 per loan.
The fund reports 67.4% since August 2024, about 27.8% a year, and an audited 38.8% for 2025, mostly from higher building valuations. Loans advertise 6% to 8% a year. No figure for defaults or losses is published for either product.
Loans have a first-rank mortgage on the property, at most 75% of its value; there is no buyback, reserve fund or insurance, and no recovery record is published. Fund units are not secured: they rise and fall with the value of the buildings, which the fund partly bought with borrowed money.
Fund units can be sold only on trading days, from €25,000, after an exit fee of 2% (8% within one year, 5% within five years), and Benkey can suspend exits. Units can be transferred to another investor with Benkey's approval. Loans run to the end of their 12- to 36-month term.
In the fund: 1.5% a year management fee (1.3% from €2.5 million), a 35% performance fee above 7.5% a year (25% from €2.5 million), transaction and running costs, and exit fees of 2% to 8%. Loans: no entry fee; the rate is quoted after costs.
If a borrower breaks the loan terms, the mortgage can be enforced, which can take time and may return less than lent. The fund's buildings are held by a separate foundation, so the manager's creditors cannot claim them. No compensation scheme covers losses.
Not in the usual sense. With minimums of €100,000 and €250,000, it works like a private property fund and loan club for wealthy investors, not a small-ticket crowd platform.
