5th May (Issue 245)

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.

 

 

RESIDENTIAL / LAND

Rathgar, Dublin 6 The European property firm, LRC Group, has purchased the Rathgar Road collection for €18 million, increasing the size of its Irish residential portfolio to nearly 1,900 properties. The apartments in the Rathgar Road portfolio are split between two sites at 175-178 Rathgar Road and 149 Rathgar Road in Dublin 6. Numbers 175, 175a, 176, 177 and 178 Rathgar Road comprise 53 purpose-built apartments and three commercial assets producing an annual rent of c.€ 955,500. This site also includes a one-acre residential development plot to the rear, which is capable of accommodating an additional 44 apartments, subject to planning permission. Number 149 Rathgar Road comprises eight purpose-built apartments producing an annual rent of c.€130,000 with a development site for a single mews to the rear, subject to planning permission. The Irish Times, 29th April

Ireland PRS Market A number of recent reports on PRS have pointed to it being more resilient in the face of the crisis. A joint report from agents Sherry FitzGerald and Cushman & Wakefield stated that “Investor sentiment remains positive for the PRS market as the market fundamentals and imbalance within supply and demand will still be there post Covid-19.” As the PRS investor pool has become more diversified and deeper, the report said these trends “should aid the PRS market’s ability to recover quickly with an increase in transactional activity towards the back end of the year”. The Sunday Business Post, 3rd May

Dublin Investment Market Agent Hooke & MacDonald expects investors to increase the portion of residential properties in their portfolios as a result of the sector’s inherent characteristics and the current crisis. Its latest report records four main residential investment transactions in Dublin in the first quarter of 2020 one of which was new build and three of older stock. The new build comprised 60 units (23%) and the older stock 203 (77%) with an overall total of 263 units worth a combined €100 million. In terms of the overall Dublin investment market transactions in Q1 2020, Multi-Family/PRS represented 16% of all investment transactions; this is a slight increase on the 15% recorded in Q1 2019. Hooke & MacDonald, The Dublin Private Rented Sector Investment Report, Q1 2020

Q1 2020 Residential Property Market Residential property sales in the first quarter were at their lowest in three years, new figures from property website MyHome.ie show. Overall residential sales declined by 4.6% nationally versus the same quarter a year earlier, with 11,161 properties changing hands, compared to 11,702 in the same three months in 2019. Six counties in Leinster showed record declines of at least 6%, while the number of sales in Dublin were down 7.2% to 3,482 as against 3,751 a year earlier. The Irish Times, 5th May

 

OFFICE

Fitzwilliam St, Dublin 2 The Irish Times understands that French investor Amundi Real Estate is closing in on the purchase of the newly-developed Fitzwilliam 28 office scheme in Dublin city centre for over €170 million. Located on Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin 2, the building Fitzwilliam 28 was brought to the market last January by joint agents Savills Ireland and Bannon at a guide price of €168 million. Amundi Real Estate is a specialist subsidiary of Europe’s leading asset manager Amundi, a company with c.€1.527 trillion in assets under management. In terms of commercial property, the French investment company currently controls a portfolio comprising 750 properties across 14 countries with an overall value of €37.6 billion. The Irish Times, 1st May 

City West, Dublin 24 Colliers International is offering a ground-floor office at 3046-3050 Lake Drive in the Citywest Business Campus in Dublin 24 for sub-letting. The property, which spans 14,800 sq.ft, is centrally located within the campus and provides easy access to the M50. It is also within a ten-minute walk of the Luas Red Line and multiple Dublin Bus routes. Citywest Shopping Centre is also close by, together with numerous cafés, restaurants and local services and amenities. The available space is being offered fully-fitted. Colliers is quoting €442,750 per annum for the space (€29.92 psf), and €750 per car space per annum. The Sunday Business Post, 3rd May

Ireland Investment Market Ireland’s commercial real-estate sector will see a rebound in activity in the second half of this year provided the Covid-19 outbreak is brought under control within a reasonable time frame, according to a new report from CBRE. The recovery is expected to be led by the investment sector of the market, where there is considerable investor equity in a position to deploy, the latest bi-monthly CBRE report has highlighted. According to CBRE, take-up in the Dublin office market reached almost 1.07 million sq.ft. in Q1 2020 – 50% higher than the five-year average. Looking at the current state of play in the office leasing market, CBRE says transactions have been put on hold indefinitely as occupiers put off decision-making and adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach. CBRE Bi-Monthly Report, May 2020

 

HOSPITALITY

Ireland Hotel Market In a Cushman & Wakefield report on the hotel market in Ireland, the firm noted that there were 4,850 rooms under construction across the State at the end of the first quarter of 2020, the highest level since its records began. The vast majority (87%) were in Dublin. Prior to the crisis, some 3,300 hotel rooms were expected to complete construction by the end of 2020. However, given the restrictions in place, this number is expected to be much lower, with completions that were due in the second and third quarters of the year pushed into the final months of 2020 and the opening months of 2021. The Irish Times, 29th April

 

RETAIL

Blackrock, Co Dublin AIB is to open a c.2,000 sq.ft. branch at the Frascati Centre in Blackrock on a 15-year lease. The Irish Times understands that the lease is in the region of €50 psf. In addition, fit-out work is also being planned for five other units for tenants at the newly-refurbished centre. Fit-out of the AIB and other new premises is set to begin as soon as the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. The refurbishment of the Frascati Centre over the past two years led to an increase in its size from 100,000 sq.ft. to 170,000 sq.ft. The project was undertaken by Burlington Real Estate on behalf of the scheme’s owners, Invesco Real Estate. The Irish Times, 29th April

 

INDUSTRIAL

Finglas, Dublin 11 Development 8 has purchased a major portion of the industrial investment and development properties at Jamestown Business Park in Finglas, Dublin 11, for more than its €10.75 million guide price. The Jamestown portfolio includes 20 units, mainly industrial units as well as a few own door offices with a total external floor area of 167,205 sq.ft. 16 tenants generate annual rents of €919,421 of which about 75% is derived from blue-chip tenants. The deal also included a six-acre site with partially completed warehouse units. The Irish Independent, 30th April

 


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