Portugal’s government said Nov. 4 it had signed a €300 million line with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for rental housing, adding financing intended to expand the supply of affordable and moderate-rent homes.
The program, IFRRU 2030, has two tracks: Build-to-Rent for new construction and Renovate-to-Rent for property rehabilitation. Funding will pass through financial intermediaries to beneficiaries, mainly private entities, though public bodies can also participate.
Intermediaries will screen applications first, applying their own credit-risk standards and considering the relevant municipality’s binding opinion alongside IFRRU’s eligibility rules. IFRRU will then conduct ex-post validation of applications approved by the intermediaries. The EIB says projects must meet applicable energy-efficiency requirements and may include seismic resilience work where relevant.
The EIB expects more than 64% of supported housing units to be in cohesion regions. Its project record estimates total project costs at €1 billion and lists about €300 million as proposed EIB financing. The public project details give no projected number of homes.
The new line adds a private-housing channel to the EIB’s existing Portuguese commitments, the bank says. Those include €1.34 billion for the Affordable Housing Programme and €1.5 billion for the Social Housing Rehabilitation Programme. The EIB says those earlier operations focused mainly on public and social housing, while IFRRU 2030 also targets private properties that can be rehabilitated for rental.
The government and the EIB cite pressure in Portugal’s housing market as a reason for the financing. The bank says the program is intended to bring more homes onto the market for rent.
Miguel Pinto Luz, Portugal’s minister for infrastructure and housing, called the partnership an “important contribution” to sustaining investment in the country’s housing sector. The EIB project record lists approval on Oct. 20; the government announced the signing on Nov. 4.
