German municipal housing company Howoge Wohnungsbaugesellschaft successfully launched its inaugural social bond, raising €300 mln.
This six-year bond matures on 5 June 2030, with a coupon of 3.875%.
The proceeds will directly fund investments aligned with Howoge's Social Finance Framework. This includes their recent acquisition of 4,500 apartments and land reserves from housing group Vonovia, completed in April 2024.
High investor demand allowed Howoge to set the final price at MS (Mid Swap) +95 basis points, exceeding initial guidance by 30 basis points. Further highlighting the success, the new issue premium was minimal at just five basis points, and the bond received over 3.7 times more subscriptions than available offerings.
Katharina Greis, Howoge managing director, said: ‘With the successful placement of the bond, we are once again demonstrating our excellent access to the capital markets. This unsecured financing underlines the diversification of our financing sources and the optimisation of our financing costs. At the same time, the inclusion of the social component in a bond is in line with Howoge's primary objective of creating and maintaining affordable housing.’
Howoge is one of the six public housing companies owned by the state of Berlin. With a portfolio of around 76,400 apartments (as of 31 December 2023), they rank as one of Germany's largest landlords. Howoge aims to grow this portfolio significantly over the medium and long term, reaching 100,000 apartments through new construction projects.
