Marlet sell-off of development sites in Dublin banking on impressive returns

Pat Crean's Marlet Property Group continues its sell-off of suburban development sites across the greater Dublin area which it amassed in recent years, mainly when trading as New Generation Homes.

The Block reported last year that Marlet was quietly selling off a number of its smaller development assets, but now it seems that the company is preparing to sell off sites that only Marlet might consider insufficient in scale to warrant developing.

In Finnstown, Lucan, it is selling a 2.47 hectare (6.1 acre) site formerly named Coolamber on which Marlet secured planning permission last year for 94 homes. The site is guiding €7 million (€1.15 million per acre) by private treaty through joint agents CBRE and Leahy Estate Agents. In 2006, a consortium paid €20 million for the site, prior to Marlet quietly picking it up for an undisclosed sum during the recession.

Meanwhile at Hollywoodrath, Dublin 15, it is selling an 8.3 hectare (20.51 acre) site with a guide price of €13 million. Competition is likely to be strong too as Marlet has secured planning permission for 183 houses on the lands, about two-thirds of which are three-bed units.

What €495K buys in Rathmines, Terenure, Goatstown, Phibsborough

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Perfect symmetry of a Victorian villa with blossoming private garden

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Be starstruck by Glenageary semi with screen-ready good looks

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Sutton home offers bay views and Brent geese for €1.075m

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The site adjoins the successful Hollywoodrath housing scheme being developed by Regency, who are likely to be among the top bidders given its strategic value. New three-to-four bed homes at Regency’s scheme range in price from €335,000 to €425,000.

Fraction of price

It is believed that Marlet paid just a fraction of the €633,850 per acre price now being guided for its site when it acquired the lands around 2014. It was reported that Regency paid about €13.5 million for their adjoining 68 acres, equating to about €200,000 per acre.

Marlet is likely to have paid even less when it purchased closer to the bottom of the market, from companies in receivership associated with developer Bernard McNamara.

Filings for those companies suggest that the proceeds from the sales of their Hollywoodrath lands amounted to just €3.275 million in total, or about €160,000 per acre. If the price guided on the Marlet site is exceeded when tenders are received later this month through joint agents CBRE and McPeake auctioneers, the company and its financial backers, M&G Investments, might quadruple their original investment – a very healthy return without having to build a single house.