Principal Real Estate acquires Irish social housing portfolio for €20m

Principal Real Estate has acquired a social housing portfolio in Dublin from New Beginning and the Irish Social Housing Fund, an affiliate of RoundShield Partners, for €20.2 million ($24 million) for the Principal Eurozone Durable Income Fund.

Comprising 55 individual and family homes located across Dublin, the social housing portfolio is let to Dublin’s local authorities on long-term 25-year leases.

Giles Smith, head of fund management at Principal Real Estate, commented, “Already acute, the need for social housing in Ireland has only intensified during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This transaction is among the first of our institutional acquisitions in the Irish social housing sector, simultaneously meeting investor demand for long term CPI-linked income streams of investment-grade credit quality, while also supporting the Irish government’s policy aim of drastically increasing social housing provision where it is most needed.”