EIB Group strengthens housing engagement in Germany and signs €322.5 Million for new housing financing at Berlin Roadshow to build affordable homes and back construction innovation

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

European Investment Bank Group launches housing campaign in Germany

Cements partnerships with Gewobag and Honext WEPA

Site visit showcases EIB-backed construction at Gartenfeld, Spandau

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group brought together senior representatives from national and local government, major housing developers, and housing industry bodies in Berlin to share best practice and identify concrete steps to overcome the challenges facing Germany’s housing sector and accelerate the construction of affordable homes.

Held at the Europahaus on Unter den Linden as part of the EIB Group’s EU-wide Housing Roadshow, the event brought together the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Construction (BMWSB), the Berlin Senate, leading municipal housing companies, promotional banks, and construction industry representatives for an open exchange on how European, national and local finance, policy tools and expertise can be deployed more effectively to unlock stalled projects and scale up housing supply.

The discussions were complemented by the formalisation of two financing agreements worth a combined €322.5 million — concrete demonstrations of how European long-term public finance can translate ambition into action.

Ioannis Tsakiris, EIB Vice-President responsible for Housing said “In recent months we have sat down with housing partners right across Europe — developers, municipalities, national promotional banks, and construction companies — and the message from every conversation is the same: the will to build is there, but the financing conditions, cost pressures, and regulatory hurdles are holding projects back. That is exactly what the EIB is here to address. Housing is now a top priority for the EIB Group — on a par with energy, climate, and infrastructure. Today’s agreements show what that commitment means in practice. With Gewobag we are helping Berlin deliver 1,465 genuinely affordable and energy-efficient new homes, while with Honext x WEPA we are financing the kind of construction innovation Europe needs to build faster, greener, and at lower cost. The housing crisis will not be solved by finance alone — but without long-term European public finance, too many good projects simply do not get built.”

Nicola Beer, EIB Vice-President said “Germany needs homes for people — affordable, well-connected, and energy-efficient. From Berlin to Regensburg, from Hannover to Hessen, the EIB is working side by side with German cities, states, and housing companies to turn political ambition into concrete construction. Today in Berlin we are not just signing finance contracts — we are starting building sites and delivering integrated neighbourhoods for living, working and education.. The EIB’s role is to complement, not replace, German national instruments: every euro of EIB long-term finance helps unlock two or three more from other sources, multiplying impact where it matters most.”

Over the past decade, the EIB Group has provided more than €7.2 billion in financing for housing investment across Germany, making the country one of the Bank’s largest housing finance partners in the European Union.

Sharing best practice to identify solutions to the housing crisis

The Berlin Housing Roadshow convened housing associations, developers, construction material suppliers, national and regional promotional banks, and government representatives for an open panel discussion on financing affordable and sustainable housing in Germany.

Scaling up affordable housing supply through public finance partnerships 

Participants examined how EIB long-term financing can complement Germany’s national instruments — including KfW, IBB, and the Landesbanken — to fill the funding gaps that commercial markets alone cannot close. The discussion highlighted the potential of Germany’s new “Bau Turbo” legislation, which allows municipalities to approve housing projects in just two to three months rather than several years, as a major accelerator for investment.

Driving innovation in construction materials and methods

The roadshow presented the EIB Group’s EUR 400 million Housing TechEU initiative, designed to support the development of new building materials, off-site prefabrication, and modular construction techniques that can reduce costs, accelerate build times, and improve energy performance — with the Honext x WEPA agreement cited as a concrete example of industrial-scale innovation backed by European public finance.

Renovation as a dual tool for affordability and climate action

With Germany’s social housing stock having fallen from 2.1 million to 1.05 million units since 2006, and with Europe’s building stock ageing rapidly, delegates discussed how energy-efficient renovation can simultaneously lower tenants’ energy bills, reduce emissions, and extend the useful life of affordable housing — underpinning both EU social cohesion goals and the targets of the Renovation Wave Strategy.

New Agreements Signed at the Roadshow

Gewobag: €300 Million for Housing Construction and Renovation in Berlin

The EIB signed a financing agreement of up to €300 million with Gewobag Wohnungsbau-AG Berlin, one of Germany’s largest municipal housing companies, which is wholly owned by the State of Berlin and manages a portfolio of more than 70,000 residential units.

The EIB loan will co-finance the construction of around 1,465 social and affordable rental housing units, including student accommodation and associated urban infrastructure, as part of Gewobag’s multi-year investment programme to expand and modernise Berlin’s affordable housing stock.

The agreement marks the fourth financing partnership between the EIB and Gewobag. The combined volume of all four operations amounts to approximately €1.1 billion, providing a lasting contribution to securing affordable housing in the German capital.

Honext WEPA: €22.5 Million for Housing Construction Innovation

The EIB also formalised a €22.5 million venture debt agreement with Honext WEPA GmbH, a joint venture between Spanish cleantech start-up Honext Material and Germany-based paper manufacturer WEPA Group. The financing — backed under the European Commission’s InvestEU programme — will support the construction and ramp-up of Germany’s first commercial-scale recycled fibreboard facility in Kriebstein, Saxony.

The plant will produce circular interior construction panels from 100% recycled cellulose fibres sourced from WEPA’s adjacent paper mill, transforming industrial waste that would otherwise be landfilled or incinerated into a high-performance, formaldehyde-free alternative to conventional wood-based building materials such as MDF and plywood. The project is expected to create 69 permanent jobs in Saxony’s Mittelsachsen district, a designated EU cohesion transition region, and will be fully operational by 2028.

Both new financing agreements are backed by InvestEU.

Site Visit: Gartenfeld, Spandau

Following the signing ceremony and panel discussion, delegates visited the Gartenfeld development site in Berlin-Spandau — one of the locations where previous EIB financing is already supporting the construction of thousands of new homes. The visit provided participants with direct insight into how European long-term public finance translates into bricks-and-mortar outcomes in one of Germany’s most supply-constrained housing markets.

Strengthening housing engagement across Europe

The Berlin event is part of the EIB Group’s EU-wide Housing Roadshow, launched jointly with the European Commission to promote the Bank’s Action Plan for Affordable and Sustainable Housing. The Action Plan, built around three pillars — innovation, renovation, and new build — aims to scale EIB Group housing finance to €6 billion in 2026, helping deliver around one million additional affordable and sustainable homes across Europe by 2030.

In 2025, EIB housing investment in Germany totalled €674 million, with a clear focus on affordability and energy efficiency.

Background information   

EIB Group  

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group is the financing arm of the European Union, owned by the 27 Member States, and one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100 billion in new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects under eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, territorial cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investments union. Beyond long-term loans for large infrastructure, the EIB Group crowds in private investment for high-risk innovative projects and businesses, with a growing role in Europe’s markets for venture debt, venture capital, guarantees and securitisations.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the subsidiary of the EIB Group specialised in providing guarantees and equity to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses and startups across Europe. Acting as an anchor investor, through its extensive network of partnering banks and investment funds, the EIF mobilises private investment and nurtures the ecosystem of venture capital funds to support innovative European entrepreneurs

In 2023, the EIF together with six Member States (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands) launched the European Tech Champions Initiative, a fund-of-funds to scale up innovative startups. To date, this initiative has already enabled the creation of 14 European venture capital mega-funds and scaled up 40 companies, including 11 unicorns (with more than €1 billion in capital).

Photos of the EIB Group’s representatives and headquarters, logo files and video B-roll for media use are available here. 

InvestEU 

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps crowd in private investment for the European Union’s strategic priorities such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. InvestEU brings all EU financial instruments previously available for supporting investments within the European Union together under one roof, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal.

The InvestEU Fund is deployed through implementing partners that will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.