Development of Commercial Real Estate Crowd Funding Markets and Regulatory Environment: Evidence for Namibia from Theuk

Following in with modern time’s trends where digital technology is transforming the world of business and society, new peer to peer (Crowd funding) on- line investment vehicles that offers inclusivity, is available to real estate entrepreneurs now a days. Crowd funding has been in existences ince the 2008 global economic downturn. This phenomenon is becoming a valuable alternative source of funding for entrepreneurs seeking external and emerging approaches for implementing their ideas despite not having traditional monetary resources such as banks and venture capital (Shengetal, 2016). The crowd funding market is an evolving market that has shown considerable growth over the last few years an estimate of the global markets how that at the end of 2015thevalue was $145.29 billion.According to Sonoman and Urguhart (1998), highrates of unemployment and very low salaries are proof that people in need of housing do not qualify for loans offered by the regular banks, more so in developing countries. This calls for innovative financing mechanism for the excluded and in most situations the majority of the population. A real estate crowd funding platform offers financing vehicles that are inclusive, open, democratic and unbiased than traditional property financing methods (Lakhani, Hutter etal.2014).Since Real Estate Crowd Funding CF is a form of securities-based crowd-funding, it is a regulated activity and most countries have developed regulatory frame works to better protect stakeholders. In the UK regulatory policy governing the crowd funding industry was introduced in March 2014 and is enforced by the Financial Conduct Authority(IPD,2016). The FCA distinguishes between equity based and debt based crowd funding platforms. Currently there are no specific crowd funding laws or regulatory frame works in Africa as in the UK or other established equity-based or debt-based crowd funding markets. Despite this regulatory absence, there were approximately 75 listed crowd funding platforms founded and headquartered in Africa during 2015. Most of the above-mentioned crowd funding platforms in Africa are operating without any industry specific regulatory framework, unless they opted for a license as a financial services or a registered credit provider (Afrik start, 2016). The absence of regulation limits the expansion of equity-based or debt-based crowd funding plat forms in Africa, as it deters potential investors to pool their money in platforms in which they have no basic investors’ protection rights and clear exit strategies ( Afrikstart, 2016).A regulatory frame work that controls the transparency, speed, and scale that advances in technology and the Internet can deliver to early-stage funding market place and protect investor is important because if not crowd funding becomes rife with fraud which could lead to market collapse (World Bank, 2013). Furthermore, the development of a regulatory environment for the crowd funding sector needs carefully consideration to ensure that new financial models can grow and innovate freely overtime. A balance need to be created by authorities to allow existing platforms to gradually become complaint overtime and not to suppress the potential of the nascent crowd funding industry during in fancy stage as too sudden restrictive regulations may harm a crowd funding market (WorldBank,2013)The aim of the study is examine what lessons can be learned by examining real estate crowd funding platforms regulations in the UK and the practicability of introducing these regulations in Namibia to help develop commercial real estate crowd funding plat forms. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques will be used in combination with primary and secondary data. Extensive study of existing literature from journal articles, media publications, academic publications, books will be undertaken. A review of the existing legal and regulatory frameworks for crowd funding in both the UK and Namibia will also be undertaken. Questionnaires developed from combined elements of literature review will provided at a analysis, and opinions and experiences from stakeholders in Namibia.