New Zealand's Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA) was chosen by Environmental Finance Sustainable Debt Award judges as the winner of this year's social bond of the year for an agency.

CHFA raised NZD200 million ($117 million), split evenly across one three-year bond and one five-year bond, after attracting strong investor interest, marking not only its inaugural issuance but also New Zealand's first domestic social bond.

Proceeds were enough to immediately finance around 440 homes and generated interest cost savings to fund around 50 additional homes over the 25-year term of a typical community housing provider contract.

Judges noted the "clear and concise" use of proceeds structure, the innovative blended finance structure and "strong commitment to detailed impact reporting".