EIF allocates money for student housing in Baltics, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia

TALLINN – The European Investment Fund (EIF) has allocated 50 million euros to an initiative run by a Lithuanian investment firm to create a Central and Eastern Europe Student Housing Fund.

The EIF contribution, backed by the InvestEU program, supports the CEE Student Housing Fund and brings total pledges, adding further investors into the fund, to 112 million. It makes the CEE Student Housing Fund the first in the EIF portfolio that is focused exclusively on social infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe, the Commission said in a press release.

CEE Student Housing Fund will have capacity to finance the construction of housing for up to 3,500 students in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The project scope includes the construction of at least seven buildings in major academic cities over the next five years.

The investments will start immediately as CEE Student Housing Fund has already secured the pipeline, begun financing and the construction of student housing projects to accommodate 1,800 students in the Polish cities of Warsaw, Wrocław and Gdańsk. Four buildings -- two in Warsaw, one in Wrocław and one in Gdańsk -- are due to be constructed during 2025-2027.

"We are excited to partner with 1 Asset Management to support the development of modern student housing in a region with significant needs in this field," said EIF Chief Executive Marjut Falkstedt at a signature event today in Vilnius. "We are glad to be making our contribution in support of European students."

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