€2.1m sought for apartment block

A six-year-old apartment block with 12 high-quality residential units at 128 Lower George’s Street in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, is the latest “multi family” investment to be offered for sale by private treaty.

Joint agents DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and Guardian Property Consultants are seeking offers in the region of €2.1 million for Smyths Apartments which are currently producing a rental income of €179,400 per annum.

At that valuation, the complex would show a net initial yield of 8.17 per cent once standard purchaser’s costs of 4.46 per cent are taken into account. The sale price also equates to a breakup value of €175,000 per apartment.

All the homes have one thing in common – they have a particularly high standard of fit-out. Jane Dolan, investment surveyor with DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, said that not only were the apartments built to a high specification they had a "unique and well thought-out" layout and style that appealed to tenants.

Six of the 12 apartments are two-bedroom units which rent at between €1,000 and €1,400 per month. Four one-bedroom units are let at €1,000/€1,100, while two three-bedroom penthouses rent at €1,600 and €1,650.

Distressed assets
A recent study of the rental market has shown that rents generally in south Dublin have risen by more than 5 per cent. The selling agents suggest that the overall rental yield from Smyths Apartments could be increased through closer asset management.

Multi-family investments such as the Dún Laoghaire block have been selling exceptionally well over the past two years. A large proportion of them have been sold as distressed assets either on the instructions of Nama or by receivers or liquidators appointed to development companies by the banks.

Sales in this sector exceeded €100 million in 2012 and in the first six months of this year the turnover has already reached €102 million, largely because of the sale of the Clancy Quay development near the Phoenix Park in Dublin to Kennedy Wilson for €84 million.