Irish PRS portfolio hits the market for €425m
Savills has been appointed to bring “Dublin Living” to the market for €425 million ($479 million). The sale will represent Ireland’s largest private rented sector (PRS) public offering, comprising approximately 1,170 units within four schemes in one lot.
The portfolio consists of four newly developed schemes including Mount Argus and St. Clare’s in Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6W; along with Carriglea in Bluebell, Dublin 12; and the Cabra Road development in Dublin 7. The development sites are currently owned by Marlet Property Group in conjunction with their finance partner, international asset manager M&G Investments.
The four high-quality PRS schemes will deliver a mixture of spacious residential apartments, which are predominately two beds (750 in total), with 255 one beds and the remaining 165 units laid out as three beds.
Based on current letting indicators for older existing multifamily schemes, the estimated net rental value of the portfolio today is predicted to be in the region of €20.5 million ($23.03 million) allowing for market standard operational costs. However, with the schemes due for phased completion between the second half of 2018 and early 2020, this estimated rental figure is forecast to increase significantly during the construction period of the four schemes due to the critical undersupply of private rented accommodation in Dublin and the consequent inflationary pressure on rents.
According to Savills director of research, Dr. John McCartney, the number of households renting privately in Dublin has grown by 42,400 since 2012. However, the very limited amount of housing construction has failed to keep up with this continually increasing rental demand, and the current vacancy rate in the Dublin PRS has been driven down to just 1.45 percent. Dublin’s population is also rising by around 1.4 percent per annum (20,000 persons) and recent census figures show a tendency toward urbanization in Ireland. As a result of this considerable supply and demand imbalance, Savills predicts continued growth, with new residential rents in Dublin expected to rise by an average of 7.3 percent per annum, or 14.5 percent compounded, up to the midpoint of 2019.
