BRICKS - Risk and return review
BRICKS - Returns and loss rates
Investment maturity
BRICKS – Platform statistics 2026
747000
investors
BRICKS – Pros & Cons
About BRICKS
Bricks.co is a French property crowdfunding platform from Montpellier, known for the lowest entry ticket in its market: EUR 10. Since July 2023 investors buy bonds - loans in security form - issued by French property developers for renovation and development projects, earning fixed interest of roughly 7-13% paid monthly, over terms averaging two years.
The platform is authorised by the French markets regulator AMF (licence FP-2023-8, June 2023) and passported across the EU, though the site is French-only. It claims over 747,000 registered members; on its regulated bond book it reports 297 projects and EUR 324 million financed since 2023, with EUR 66 million of capital repaid. History matters here: before mid-2023 Bricks sold unregulated 'royalty' contracts on buildings owned by its own group - a model France's regulator publicly warned against in December 2022 - and that legacy book is now being wound down, with all the old properties being sold early because the resale marketplace never provided real liquidity.
On today's product, deals can be secured by a mortgage, a trust-style transfer of the property (fiducie) or personal guarantees, decided deal by deal.
Money is held with Lemonway, a French payment institution, and interest lands on the 8th of each month. Investors pay almost nothing directly - two free withdrawals a year, then EUR 1.20 - while developers pay 5-10% of what they raise.
There is no dependable early exit: the marketplace carries no liquidity guarantee, so plan to hold to maturity. As at July 2026 the platform reported a 4.71% default rate and 14 projects in insolvency proceedings.
Regulation
License / Regulation: ECSPR/PSFP authorisation, AMF France | Licence FP-2023-8 |
Functionality
For Investors
Useful Information
The record is extensive and dated. December 2022: the AMF publicly warned against property royalty platforms - the model Bricks was the largest seller of - noting investors owned nothing; Bricks stopped royalty raises in January 2023, became AMF-authorised in June 2023 and switched to bonds. Earlier, its April 2022 fundraising was reported by the French press as breaching the then-applicable legal framework, and in September 2021 forum investigators documented stock photos presented as staff and demo images presented as properties; 79% of respondents in that forum's poll would not recommend the platform. Current complaints centre on withdrawal delays (one investor waited over two months), thin project information, rising payment delays and oversubscribed deals. Trustpilot is reported around 4.1 from roughly 4,200 reviews, though reviewers caution the score reflects onboarding more than outcomes. Importantly: no AMF sanction, no blacklist entry and no insolvency - the regulatory episode forced a model change, it was not a fine.
Only two people are formally identifiable: founder and president Cedric O'Neill, who fronts the platform's podcast, press and marketing, and managing director Ines Dias, appointed in March 2025. Mazars has been statutory auditor since June 2023. Beyond that, the team page describes functions - property experts, developers, customer service - without names or biographies, which is worth noting given that in 2021 forum investigators found the then-published team photos were stock images used under different names on unrelated foreign sites. Basketball star Tony Parker was among named backers of the 2022 fundraising round.
Direct costs are minimal: nothing to register, deposit or invest, two free withdrawals per rolling year then EUR 1.20 each, and EUR 42 for a rejected transfer (waived the first time). The marketplace charges no commission under the terms - though some review sites still cite a 3% fee from the royalty era, which no longer applies. The real cost is indirect: developers pay Bricks 5-10% of what they raise plus listing and annual fees, which sits inside the interest rate they can afford to offer you. French flat tax of about 31.4% is withheld automatically on interest, with an exemption route for eligible taxpayers.
Bricks publishes very little about how it selects projects. Its public statement is that every project is assessed against strict criteria and that its property team chooses the guarantee package case by case - mortgage, fiducie (property transferred to a trustee until repayment) or personal guarantees - disclosed in each deal's information note. There is no published scoring grid, no rejection rate, no named credit committee and no loan-to-value rule. What is documented is an exclusion: shareholders above 20%, directors, employees and connected persons cannot be project owners - a direct response to the old royalty era, when the buildings belonged to Bricks' own group. Roughly one new deal every two to three days was funded in 2025-2026, a fast pace for an unpublished process.
On the current bond book, protection is security-based and set per deal: a fiducie (the property is transferred to a trustee lawyer until the debt is repaid - the strongest form), a conventional or legal mortgage allowing seizure and sale, or a personal guarantee from the sponsor. As at July 2026, 35 projects were up to three months behind on interest and 14 were in insolvency proceedings; no recovery rate or case-by-case account of those 14 is published. For the legacy royalty book, management now simply means orderly liquidation: every pre-2023 property is being prepared and sold early, with Bricks saying it accepts only offers that at least return investors' initial money.