By 2025, the Catalan Institute of Finance will have the largest direct budget in its history and will multiply by five the resources made available for the construction and acquisition of social housing.
The Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) has financed the creation of 1,901 social housing units during 2024, with a total investment of 194.9 million euros. This is indicated by the latest data collected by the public promotion bank of the Government of Catalonia.
These are record figures for housing generation by the entity, which has quadrupled investment in this area compared to 2023 (45.6 million) and has tripled the number of homes promoted (699 homes).
The 1,901 homes created during 2024 include both the purchase and rehabilitation of existing homes for protected rental (204 homes) and new developments (1,697), which is the modality where the jump compared to previous years has been greatest. Specifically, the volume of new-build homes promoted by the ICF has multiplied by 15 compared to 2023, when only 113 new homes were financed.
With accumulated data, since 2018 the ICF has allocated 378.8 million euros to finance projects for the acquisition and promotion of social rental housing, making 4,316 homes possible in Catalonia. In other words, the €194.9 million granted by the ICF in 2024 represents more than half of the financing allocated by the entity to the construction and purchase of HPO in the last seven years.
The 2025 budget
The 2025 budget
The ICF will have the highest direct budget in its history by 2025. Catalonia's public development banks expect their activity in loans, guarantees and venture capital to reach 1,326 million euros next year, which represents an increase of more than double compared to the extended budget of 2023.
The increase is explained, above all, by the increase in financing that will be made available for the construction of social housing, which will be multiplied by five to reach 600 million euros. Specifically, the entity of the Government of Catalonia plans to have 500 million euros available to finance public and private developers to build new subsidized housing on a rental basis and 100 million for the public emancipation fund through which the Government intends that young people can postpone the purchase of their first home.
In total, the ICF estimates that its activity in loans and guarantees could reach 1,255 million in 2025, multiplying the activity by 2.5 compared to the extended budget of 2023. The boost in social housing will also be accompanied by an increase in credit for SMEs and in the resources allocated to the lines of loans that the public bank agree with the Catalan Government to finance, with advantageous conditions, projects and investments in sustainability, industry and the primary sector, among others. In fact, the budget of the joint lines with the Catalan executive is multiplied by five, since it goes from 165 million euros to 739 million. Likewise, the ICF plans to allocate a total of 71 million euros to investment in venture capital, an area where the entity acts as a tool through which the Government supports innovation, science and research in Catalonia.
To carry out this historic activity, the ICF will at the same time strengthen its fundraising by obtaining financing in the financial markets and raising European funds. The 2025 budget also contemplates maintaining the bank's financial soundness, with solvency, liquidity and coverage ratios that will continue to be above the sector average and good forecasts for non-performing loans.
Territorial distribution of housing built in 2024
Territorial distribution of housing built in 2024
The bulk of the social housing that Catalonia's public bank have financed in 2024 is mostly located in the Barcelona region, with 1,291 HPOs (67.9% of the total). In Tarragona, 428 HPOs (22.5%) have been financed; in Lleida, 143 (7.5%); and in Girona, 39 (2.1%).
The ICF has financed developments such as 121 new social rental homes in the Magraners neighbourhood of Lleida, a project by Soluciones Viviendas 88 SL that will reserve 35 homes for people under 35 years of age with the aim of promoting emancipation and youth roots. Other examples are the 192 homes in the Les Oliveres development that the SALAS Foundation is building in Tarragona, or the 101 flats that the Cooperativa Obrera de Vivienda is promoting in El Prat de Llobregat.
As for the financing of the acquisition of existing homes to put them on the rental HPO, the loan that the entity has granted to the SociHabitat Foundation to buy and refurbish a building of 42 social rental flats in Figueres that will be aimed at young people and the elderly stands out.