€6m for Baggot Street apartments

An Israeli investor has bought an apartment development off Lower Baggot Street in Dublin city centre for €6.1 million. The 24 one and two-bedroom apartments are currently producing a rent roll of €437,000, giving the new owner a gross yield of almost 8 per cent.

Ivan Gaine of the Sherry FitzGerald Group said there had been "competitive bidding" for the William Beckett House on Pembroke Row because of its high quality fit-out and prime city centre location.

The five-storey block with a basement car park was sold on behalf of Michael Coyle of HWBC/Allsop who was appointed a fixed charge receiver by Danske Bank. The apartments were developed by two directors of Galway building company O'Mahony Finnerty.

Though the identify of the purchaser has not been disclosed, it is known that he has no business connections with two other Israeli businessmen who have bought a range of investment properties here in the past year.

Part of the appeal of Beckett House is that it is within easy walking distance of most parts of the south inner city where there is a continuous demand for upmarket apartments.

Rising rents
There are 15 two-bedroom apartments in the block which rent from €1,350 to €2,300 per month, while the remaining nine one-beds are in constant demand at €1,200 to €1,400.

City rents have shot up over the past two years because of the shortage of good quality apartments in popular areas.

The sale of Beckett House means that the two-bedroom apartments were valued at just over €260,000, while one-beds would have a value of about €180,000. The 13 car parking spaces work out at about €20,000 each.