Prof. Dr. Steffen Sebastian, IREBS, and Francesco Fedele, CEO, BF.direkt
The ninth edition of the Berlin-based financing congress—formerly known as the “Annual Congress on Financing for the Real Estate Industry”—had a markedly different feel this year. A new name, a new venue, and, perhaps most tellingly, a new focus signalling a clear change in direction.
Relocated from the Humboldt Carré to the sleeker AXICA venue on Pariser Platz, a stone’s throw from the Brandenburg Gate, the rebranded Real Asset Finance & Debt Summit made its debut as a broader, more future-facing event. The intention was unmistakable. No longer just a familiar gathering for project developers and real estate lenders, the summit has widened its lens to include infrastructure, private credit and hybrid capital strategies. Organised by BF.direkt, alongside IREBS and RUECKERCONSULT, the revised format reflects the investment strategies of institutional players who are, increasingly, looking for yield stability in sectors adjacent to traditional real estate.
According to BF.direkt CEO Francesco Fedele, “We can’t keep inviting just project developers and lenders to the table and pretend it’s still 2018. The capital stack has moved. The market has moved. So must we.” Roughly 150 participants and 25 speakers attended—in REFIRE's view, a respectable turnout in the context of today’s restrained deal and lending environment.
Peter Altmaier, ex-Federal Economics Minister
Major investment in infrastructure now a necessity
Setting the tone for the day, former Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier, a long-time confidant of Angela Merkel, delivered a keynote that was as political as it was financial. He warned that Germany urgently needs what he called a “government capable of action” to prevent further drift and indecision at a time of national and geopolitical strain. Addressing the ongoing debate around Germany’s constitutional debt brake, the now-retired and somewhat slimmed-down Altmaier didn’t mince words in suggesting that increased public investment is now a necessity. With Germany lagging its NATO peers in defence spending, he argued that “we have to become capable of defence,” noting that other alliance members are already allocating between 3.0 and 3.5% of GDP—well ahead of Germany.
The implications were clear to many in the audience: Berlin will, in one form or another, have to find ways to push large-scale infrastructure investment through the system. For institutional capital, the message was not just about national security but about new pipelines of government-supported infrastructure projects becoming available for co-financing.
That sense of constrained optimism was tempered somewhat by the economic outlook presented by Dr. Reinhold Rickes, Chief Economist at the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV). Citing the most recent round of Trump-era tariffs, Rickes forecast that Germany would slide back into negative growth in both 2025 and 2026. His proposed solutions—familiar calls for structural reform, reduced bureaucracy, and greater corporate and labour market dynamism—were well received, if not particularly new. However, he did stress the need for what he termed a “forward-looking interest rate policy,” and drew attention to the DSGV’s own Financial Climate Index, which suggests that investors are cautiously hopeful that a targeted fiscal stimulus package could restore confidence. Whether that hope translates into action remains to be seen.
Rethink of risk assessment and lending practices
Arguably the most pointed remarks of the day came from Dr. Jan Peter Annecke, global head of real estate finance at Helaba, who tackled ESG regulation head-on. He told the audience that the financial sector has “no choice” but to engage with the EU’s increasingly comprehensive ESG rulebook. Without such regulation, he warned, there would be market failure. Annecke also emphasised that regulated financial institutions are now effectively acting as the EU’s enforcement arm for climate policy, whether they like it or not. In his view, lenders are no longer simply providers of capital—they are frontline actors in a regulatory regime designed to achieve the bloc’s environmental targets. That shift, he implied, requires a fundamental rethink of risk assessment and lending practices across the sector.
The clearest articulation of how institutional capital is responding to that shift came from Florian Bucher and Sina Nennstiel of the German Federal Association for Alternative Investments (BAI), who presented current data showing that infrastructure equity is now the second-largest alternative asset class by investor allocation in Germany—trailing only real estate. They noted that while property remains robust, infrastructure is rapidly catching up as a target for large institutional inflows. The reason is simple: achieving Germany’s climate neutrality target by 2045 will require investment volumes in the trillions—far beyond the state’s ability to finance alone. For many fund managers, infrastructure debt is no longer a niche strategy. It has arrived as a mainstream, scalable allocation option.
On the technical front, Dr. Ralf Kauther, CEO of credX AG, offered a grounded assessment of the rise of artificial intelligence in financing workflows. He cautioned against hype, saying that AI will not replace expertise, but will change how it is applied. If deployed properly, AI can improve structuring, auditing, and credit decisions. However, Kauther warned that it must be integrated with clearly defined processes and realistic expectations, rather than being viewed as a plug-and-play solution to deeper structural issues in deal-making or risk management.
Real estate now sharing the stage with rival asset classes
The panel discussions reinforced the wider themes of the summit. Topics ranged from non-performing loans and loan restructuring to follow-on financing and the future of private debt. While commercial real estate remained central to the conversation, it was clear that the asset class is no longer the undisputed centre of gravity for institutional portfolios. Attendees repeatedly heard that flexibility now outweighs asset-class purity. Investors are diversifying, and real estate must now compete not only with its traditional rivals but with infrastructure, energy, and even corporate lending structures.
In REFIRE's view, the rebranding of this well-established summit wasn’t just a cosmetic refresh. It repeatedly highlighted a deeper shift already underway in the real asset space: a recalibration of institutional priorities in response to long-term structural shifts in capital allocation, regulatory direction, and macroeconomic realities. For Germany’s debt and equity professionals, the message is increasingly hard to ignore. Those still waiting for a clean real estate recovery may be missing the larger repricing already happening around them.
For many, this summit confirmed what the most alert market participants already suspect: the future will still include real estate—but it will no longer revolve around it.