Duckfund's Fast EMD Funding Fuels CRE's 2026 Comeback

Over the past year, Duckfund has supported more than $1.5 billion in acquisitions, achieved a 65% client retention rate, and enabled sponsors to execute three to five concurrent transactions, typically valued between $10 million and $50 million.

United States, August 4, 2026 -- Duckfund, a NY-based earnest money deposit (EMD) financing platform, is emerging as the core deal-flow infrastructure for serial CRE sponsors, with growth figures that position it at the center of an expected market recovery.

Three years ago, the typical Duckfund sponsor was closing one deal a year. Today, the platform's fastest-growing clients are running three to five CRE acquisitions simultaneously – at $10 million to $50 million each – using Duckfund's EMD financing as a standing line of acquisition capital, rather than a one-time funding solution.

With a 65% sponsor retention rate and $1.5 billion in CRE acquisitions financed the past year, Duckfund has become the operational layer that serial sponsors build their entire deal pipeline around.

From “wait-and-see” to “ready-to-move”

After a slow 2025 that prompted many sponsors to remain in “wait-and-see” mode, investors are underwriting in greater volume. US commercial real estate (CRE) sponsors are positioning themselves amid a predicted market rise of 16% in 2026.

An essential part of this is finding a financing partner that moves quickly when the right opportunity arises. Growth-minded investors are finding that in Duckfund. Its fast and flexible model helps them scale their pipelines by signing multiple PSAs at once and opening up a wider funding funnel, without freezing their operating capital in escrow.

“We expect the market to be reborn soon,” says Anna Kogan, Founder and CEO of Duckfund. “Duckfund has built an instrument that ensures investors have access to capital to choose the real estate they really want to buy – and to tie up deals.”

Easing the bottleneck

Larger deposit demands and longer escrow periods have made earnest money deposits a major bottleneck in CRE deals, with sponsors finding their working capital tied up at a critical point.

In a competitive market, an EMD is locked into escrow for up to 90 days before going hard. These funds are then unavailable for due diligence funds, soft costs, or the next LOI.

Duckfund’s refundable deposits, approved in 24 hours and funded in 48, are designed to bridge this gap. Sponsors pay fees as LP soft costs, which are passed through at closing, and do not need to find collateral to make the deal work.

For investors running multiple deals, this trapped capital is often the difference between chasing a single opportunity and pursuing many.

Inside a recent deal

One Duckfund client, Bob Clippinger, a multifamily and light-reconstruction sponsor, came in with a familiar problem: a healthy pipeline and not enough liquidity to chase it. Earnest money alone was set to tie up close to a million dollars in escrow at any given time.

With Duckfund, his deposit costs moved into the partnership as soft costs, meaning he could free up more capital to underwrite more deals and bring partners in just for the ones that closed.

“(Duckfund’s solution) is an opportunity for people to keep their balance sheet where it’s at and utilize their money,” Clippinger says. “It keeps (for example) half a million dollars in the bank so your lender can see you have the reserves you need for their deal.”

The same liquidity problem that constrains seasoned sponsors hits hardest at the smaller end of the market, which is where Duckfund is now turning its attention.

A program for affordable housing developers

As well as its core CRE business, Duckfund has also recently finalized a partnership with Yoke Management Partners to launch a dedicated EMD financing program for affordable and workforce housing developers.

The focus is to help small, emerging, and minority-led businesses complete deals that they are normally priced out of due to high deposits. Starting in the DMV region, the program will support various asset types, including NOAH, workforce housing, LIHTC and tax-credit projects, and mission-driven multifamily assets.

“Access to capital at the right moment is what separates a deal that gets done from a deal that gets lost,” says Chris Grant, Founder and Managing Partner, Yoke Management Partners. “This partnership is about closing that gap for affordable housing developers.”

Full details of the Duckfund x Yoke program will be announced in a separate release.

About Duckfund

Duckfund was launched in 2023 in New York to finance earnest money deposits in commercial real estate. Backed by a $100M credit facility of institutional funds, the platform funds refundable deposits from $25,000 to $3 million in 48 hours, with no collateral required, so sponsors can fund multiple projects at once while keeping their personal capital free. To learn more, visit https://duckfund.com.

About Yoke Management Partners

Yoke Management Partners is an affordable and workforce housing investment, acquisition, renovation, and asset management firm focused on balancing preservation with progress and profits with purpose. To learn more, visit https://yokepartners.com/

Contact Info:
Name: Anna Kogan
Email: Send Email
Organization: Duckfund
Phone: +1 833 3664880
Website: https://www.duckfund.com/

Release ID: 89199718

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