Dublin city centre apartments for €22m

The increasing demand for apartment blocks as long-term investments has led to considerable competition among institutional and private buyers for these assets.

Agents Savills plans to test the strength of the city centre market again this week by offering for sale a block of 110 apartments just off the city quays near Christ Church.

The agency is guiding in excess of €22 million for the investment which will show a net initial yield of 5.65 per cent and reflect an average valuation of €200,000 per residential unit.

The apartment block at 42-76 St Augustine Street has been leased to rental company Staycity since 2008 and is currently producing a rent roll of €1.3 million per annum. The lease has another eight years to run without any rent reviews.

Staycity is a company specialising in renting serviced apartments to corporate clients as well as tourists in various parts of the world.

In addition to the apartments on St Augustine Street, it also manages similar accommodation at Christ Church, Millennium Walk and Temple Bar. The Irish operation is understood to be extremely successful, helped in recent times by the economic recovery and the sharp pick-up in tourism.

Staycity internet site advertised one-bedroom apartments in St Augustine Street last weekend at €269 a night, a two-bed unit at €430 and a three-bed at €538. By yesterday, the one-beds had dropped to €139, two-beds to €222 and three-beds to €277. Of the 110 apartments going for sale, 77 are two-beds, 21 are one-beds and 12 are three-beds.

Marguerite Boyle of Savills says that while the multi-family market was a relatively new investment medium, in the Irish property market it was the one that had shown some of the most aggressive movements in yields since it emerged in 2012.

Rising prices

With residential prices rising and new mortgage-lending restrictions now in place, it had become harder for first-time buyers to get on to the housing ladder. The stable demand for rented accommodation, particularly in Dublin, should support rents and yields and provide income opportunities for investors. However, as prices rose, the argument for breaking up multi-family investments and selling them off unit by unit became stronger.

The St Augustine Street apartments are arranged in five blocks around a central courtyard developed in 2008 by Liam Carroll’s Zoe Developments. That company and others associated with Mr Carroll went into voluntary liquidation towards the end of 2009 with debts of €1.3 billion.

Most of the apartment blocks which were sold to investment funds and private individuals over the past five years have had to be managed by the new owners. Part of the appeal of St Augustine Street is that the entire block is fully let to a single operator and will require the minimum of effort by the purchaser.