The sale of 28 high-end apartments in Dublin’s south docklands is expected to see strong interest from both new and existing investors in the city’s private rented sector.
The Grand Canal Dock portfolio, as it is known, is being offered to the market on behalf of a private investor by agent Colliers at a guide price of €18.25 million, or an average of €651,785 per unit.
The 28 apartments are situated within the Grand Canal Dock area and are distributed across eight developments namely Longboat Quay, Gallery Quay, The Clayton, Butlers Court, Hanover Riverside, The Waterfront, Gallery Quay and Cranmer Place. The Longboat Quay scheme accounts for 14 of the apartments in the portfolio.
The overall portfolio comprises a mix of units, with 14 two-beds, 12 three-beds, one one-bed and one four-bed. The majority of the units are apartments and have been fully refurbished. The refurbishment works include new kitchens, bathrooms and flooring throughout.
The Grand Canal Dock portfolio comes for sale almost fully let at or just below market rents, with just one unit vacant. Fifteen of the apartments come with the benefit of secure basement car-parking spaces, all of which are currently vacant, offering the prospective purchaser the opportunity to increase the overall rental income further.
Should the portfolio change hands at its €18.25 million guide price, the selling agent estimates the purchaser will secure a net initial yield of about 5.25 per cent on stabilised net operating income, after allowing for standard purchaser’s costs of 9.96 per cent.
Grand Canal Dock and the wider docklands is widely acknowledged as one of Dublin’s strongest residential rental locations. The so-called “Silicon Docks” is home to the EMEA (European, Middle East and Africa) headquarters of Google and the offices of numerous other of the world’s biggest names in the technology sector including TikTok, Meta and Airbnb. The operations of leading law firms Matheson and McCann Fitzgerald, professional services company Accenture and recruitment giant Indeed are also based in the area and within distance of the apartments in the subject portfolio.
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Quite apart from the presence of a wide selection of employers, Grand Canal Dock and its surrounding area offer a range of amenities including most notably the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, the five-star Marker Hotel, the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) and the 3Arena. These are complemented by the presence of a range of bars, cafes and restaurants.
Michele McGarry, director and head of capital markets at Colliers, says: “The sale of Grand Canal portfolio provides a buyer with an opportunity to create a platform to build a portfolio of prime residential properties in the city centre of which the majority of the units have been totally refurbished to the highest standard. We expect strong interest from both institutional and private investors given the quality of the portfolio and sheer weight of existing and new capital still looking for exposure to the residential sector.”
