3rd April (Issue 140)
Welcome to the Origin Capital Weekly Irish Property Review. This update is designed to provide you with a full recap of the latest property news from the media over the last seven days.
LOAN / PORTFOLIO SALES
Project Redwood: AIB’s largest sell-off of non-performing loans is nearing its conclusion with final bids on the €3.7bn Project Redwood expected by the end of April. The loan sale, which excludes owner-occupier mortgages, has reduced slightly and is expected to exchange for c. €2bn, equating to a discount of c. 46%. Lone Star, Cerberus and Goldman Sachs are the three parties remaining in the sales process. The Irish Independent, 29th March
RETAIL
4 Henry Street, Dublin: Agent TWM is seeking €8.35m (€1,452 psf) for the Skechers footwear store located at 4 Henry Street, next door to the Arnotts department store. The 5,750 sq. ft. property has been let to Skechers on a 15-year FRI lease since September 2010 with a break option in 2020. Skechers are currently paying €360k p.a. (€62.60 psf) for the unit, equating to a 4% return based on €8.35m sales price. The Irish Times, 28th March
OFFICE
Abbey Street, Dublin 1: Irish Life has found two new tenants for its newly developed office block on Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1. Depfa Bank has signed contracts to lease c. 20,000 sq. ft. on the third and fourth floors at a rent of €45 psf. Depfa Bank has recently notified Hibernia REIT that it intends to terminate its leasehold interests in the Forum, in Dublin’s North Docks, in March 2019. The bank currently occupies 47,000 sq. ft. of office space in the building at a rent of €2m p.a. (€42.50 psf). Apex Fund Services is the second tenant understood to have agreed to lease 15,000 sq. ft. at similar rents to Depfa Bank. The Irish Times, 28th March
Windmill Lane, Dublin 2: Hibernia Reit confirmed it has let two floors of office space in its 1 Windmill Lane building for an initial rent of €2.8m p.a. (€57 psf). Autodesk, the technology company, will take c. 48,500 sq. ft. of space across two floors on two separate leases. The first lease commences in March 2019 and the 20-year leases will have an average term certain of 11.5 years from commencement. The Irish Independent, 29th March
HOTEL
Radisson Blu Hotel Sligo: Hotel group iNua Hospitality has bought the 132-bedroom four-star Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa in Sligo for between €15m and €16m. This will bring to 760 the number of bedrooms it manages in seven regional hotels. The group is reported as saying that its hotels are currently valued at c. €90m and it has invested €10m in capital expenditure improvements. The Irish Independent, 2nd April
RESIDENTIAL / LAND
Leixlip Development Sites: Agent Knight Frank has brought a 2.92 acre site at Easton in Leixlip Co. Kildare to the market guiding €2.5m (€856k per acre). The site which is located c. 800m from the Intel Ireland campus, is zoned for residential use and could accommodate between 35 and 41 residential units.
Knight Frank has also brought an adjoining 36.5 acre site zoned for business and technology developments to the market with a guide price of €6m (€164k per acre). The site has c. 170m of road frontage and is suitable for uses such as motor sales, petrol station, light industry, office, medical consultant/health centre, restaurant, shop and tourist-related facilities. The Irish Times, 28th March
Howth Road, Clontarf: Quillsen Auctioneers have brought a residential development opportunity at 126 Howth Road, Clontarf in Dublin 3 to the market guiding €3m. The property stands on a site of 0.84 acres and is zoned Z1 ‘To protect, provide and improve residential amenities’, with the capability to provide up to 25 apartment units. The Irish Independent, 29th March
Live Planning Applications: Plans for 636 residential properties in two developments have been submitted to An Bord Pleanála under the Government’s strategic housing development initiative. Cairn Homes, is seeking permission to build 320 houses, 142 apartments and a 106-unit student development in Maynooth, Co Kildare. Separately, O’ Mahony Developments has applied for permission to build 164 houses and 10 apartments in Glounthaune, Co Cork. Both developers have applied under a fast-track planning scheme whereby builders apply to An Bord Pleanála directly for permission after consulting the local council and a decision will be made within 16 weeks. The latest submissions bring to 12 the number of applications currently with An Bord Pleanála for strategic developments (3,420 properties and 691 student beds). The Irish Times, 27th March
Clay Farm, Leopardstown: Viscount Securities, one of Michael Cotter’s companies, has applied to An Bord Pleanála to build 355 houses and 572 apartments, a childcare facility and 1,458 parking spaces at Clay Farm in Leopardstown. The company’s previous application in January 2018, the first submitted under the Government’s strategic housing development initiative, was previously rejected over inadequate information on storm water management and concerns over insufficient open space for the development. The Irish Independent, 29th March
Goodbody Housebuilding Tracker: Despite year on year increases in housing unit completions, Goodbody Housebuilding Tracker report notes there remains a “significant gap” between the demand of c. 35,000 units and the supply of less than 10,000 units in the last 12 months. The report notes year on year increase of 38% in February 2018, when nearly 800 housing units were completed and year on year increases of 46% in January and February 2018 with 1,608 units completed. The Irish Independent, 27th March
MyHome.ie / Davy Report: The latest house price report from Myhome.ie and Davy has shown that the prices of newly listed properties nationally rose by 4.8% in Q1, while prices in Dublin rose by 3.3%. Nationally, asking prices for the previous 12 months are up 9.5%, with Dublin up 8.2%. The report reasons the slowdown in Q1 is due to tighter bank lending and stretched affordability in Dublin. The median asking price for new sales nationally is €260k (€210k excluding Dublin) while in Dublin it’s €345k. Myhome.ie, 3rd April
LICENSED PREMISES
BidX1 Commercial Auction: The upcoming BidX1 Commercial auction on April 18th includes five licensed premises for sale. Most notable of these is the former Walters Pub in Dun Laoghaire which has a €1.25m guide price. The pub is currently let to the Clancy Group at a rent of €100k p.a. representing a gross yield of 8% on sale at guide price. The four other pubs going under the virtual hammer are located in Kildare, Louth and Monaghan and range in value from €150k to €375k. BidX1 Commercial Catalogue
OTHERS
April Auctions: There will be five property auctions with over 400 properties held in April 2018 between BidX1, REA and O’ Donnellan and Joyce. The largest lot, with a reserve of €3.5m, is an apartment block with 31 units in Inchicore and will be auctioned online through BidX1. 30 of the apartments are let generating €430k p.a. rental income. The reserve of €3.5m represents a gross initial yield of 12.57%. The Irish Independent, 29th March
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