On April 14, 2026, SpainNAB participated in the Family Office & Private Wealth Real Estate Forum, held at Espacio Beatriz in Madrid, in an edition that was particularly relevant for the impact ecosystem: for the first time, the programme included a dedicated panel on impact investing.
The panel, titled “Key Strategies to Activate Impact Capital in Housing,” featured Mercedes Valcárcel, Managing Director of SpainNAB, alongside key representatives from the public sector, investors, and asset managers. The discussion helped consolidate the debate on the role of family capital in one of the most urgent social challenges in our country: access to affordable housing and its long-term preservation.
A turning point for impact investing in Spain
In her opening remarks, Mercedes Valcárcel kicked off the session with an introductory presentation in which she contextualized the evolution of impact investing globally and its growing consolidation in Spain. She emphasized that the country is at a turning point, where impact is no longer a voluntary option but is increasingly becoming a structural criterion in investment decision-making.
From this broader framework, she focused on housing as one of the main social and real estate challenges, highlighting two key dimensions:
- the urgent need to increase the supply of affordable housing, in response to a structural shortage of supply, and
- the long-term preservation of housing portfolios with affordable rents, an area historically overlooked by traditional real estate investment.
“Impact investing not only makes it possible to address a critical social challenge, but also offers a real opportunity to align purpose, resilience, and long-term asset preservation,” she noted during her intervention.
Mobilizing Family Capital: A Strategic Opportunity
One of the central objectives of the panel was to activate the role of family capital and family offices in addressing the housing challenge. In this regard, Mercedes Valcárcel highlighted that investment in affordable rental housing is underpinned by strong fundamentals, with structurally high demand, countercyclical behaviour, and the capacity to act as a defensive asset and a store of value for wealth preservation.
At the same time, she highlighted the ecosystem’s progress in impact measurement and reporting, a key element for building investor confidence and, in addition, for accessing sustainable finance and blended finance at European and international scale. These are enabling factors that are essential for strategic autonomy and that deliver more visible returns in the medium and long term.
Sector challenges and the need for new financial solutions
One of the main conclusions of the analysis is that financing challenges vary significantly depending on the sector, the nature of the project, and execution capacity. In particular, large-scale projects tend to progress through the gradual transformation of production models, while others—such as those focused on efficiency, compliance, or nature—require more complex solutions, including blended finance schemes and impact-oriented approaches.
Among the report’s recommendations are:
- Increasing the financial attractiveness of projects with high social returns, for example through public guarantees.
- Strengthening the project pipeline, with sector-specific transition pathways that allow for the anticipation of costs and risks and the activation of levers across the value chain.
- Making good practices more visible and widespread, facilitating their replicability.
A dialogue between the public and private sectors and measurable impact
The discussion featured the participation of:
- Raúl Sánchez, Director General of the Social Impact Fund (FIS), managed by COFIDES, who explained the role of the public sector as a catalyst and quality guarantor, reducing risk and attracting private capital toward impact-driven projects.
- Pere Esteve, investor and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Nou Lloc Foundation, who shared his experience combining asset investment and philanthropy in affordable housing over more than a decade.
- Alejandra Mora, board member of ALAS Vivienda Asequible, an associate organization of SpainNAB, who presented the impact investment model with stable returns and audited social impact, supported by methodologies such as SROI.
The dialogue made it clear that impact investing in housing is not an emerging trend, but rather a mature, replicable, and scalable strategy, particularly well suited to family capital seeking real impact without compromising financial sustainability.
The participation of SpainNAB in this forum reinforces its role as a convener of Spain’s impact investing ecosystem, connecting capital, projects, and reference frameworks that help accelerate structural solutions to major social challenges.
