The Casino apartment complex, Malahide, county Dublin
This morning.
Via The Irish Times:
National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is close to signing off on the bulk sale of 69 apartments in Malahide, Co Dublin, to a UK-based investment fund.
A deal has been reached in principle to sell the apartments at The Casino development in Malahide village to SeaPoint Capital, a serial block-buyer of apartments for the rental market.
Some 34 apartments in the complex were sold to private buyers for an average price of €433,000 over the past 2½ years. Nama is selling the remaining unsold apartments in bulk.
Nama close to approving sale of Dublin apartments to UK-based fund (Irish Times)
Meanwhile…
In the minister’s @DarraghOBrienTD‘s constituency
A deal has been reached in principle to sell the apartments at The Casino development in Malahide village to SeaPoint Capital, a serial block-buyer of apartments for the rental market.#vulturefunds #HomeNotInvestments
— Mick Caul 😷 (@caulmick) May 18, 2021
Pic: MyHome.ie
Cash in, oh!
It seems from the article that Nama is legally obliged to sell to the highest bidder. That law should be changed given the crisis we’re in, and the properties/sites left in Nama’s portfolio should be sold at cost to local authorities, housing bodies, affordable housing, first time buyers etc. Otherwise whatever profit is made from the sales to these private investment funds, will (in the long run) be taken back from the state many times over in HAP etc.
The cash generated from the sale goes back to state coffers – the price of one of those apartments could cover the build costs for 2 houses on state owned land.
Yaw, but sadly that does not happen.
There’s oodles of state owned land around Dublin sitting idle – but if the state were to develop, their mates wouldn’t be able to keep the market cornered.
There’s far too much cash to be made in land speculation than to get involved in actual building.
They really need to stop building around Dublin. Build up if anything and outlaw dereliction – plenty of former-apartments/flats left to rot between the canals. Can do the same with Cork, Galway and Limerick too.
NAMA have 2 criteria for doing business. You must have either a Yankee accent or a Brit accent.The promise of a good job for the NAMA official concerned usually seals the deal.
there is a limit on HAP – these apartments won’t qualify as the rent will be astronomical.
Wealthy men elected by us to serve the interests of wealthier men. Democracy in Ireland
Isn’t it about time to revisit the IRBC debacle? And investigate those who had debts up to €10m written off?
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2015-06-09/29/
Go on, guess what friends of what political parties had their debts written off…
Or members / representatives of those parties..
and whats the tax status of this investment vehicle?
Anyone willing to hazard a guess as to what proportion of the total housing stock in Ireland is owned by cuckoo funds?
Go on, have a guess
I’m sure you’ll tell us in your own time, my dear.
A fraction of 1%
The housing crisis in Ireland is caused by not enough housing; the cuckoo funds thing is just an emotive sideshow.
Really? Interesting.
The nub of it remains the same though, doesn’t it? This housing crisis didn’t pop up overnight and successive governments have failed to do anything about it, and any moves they have made are for optics and sadly haven’t improved the housing situation for the average buyer. Where is the political will to actually solve this?
I must add that I find the fact that the govt invested in one of these cuckoo funds absolutely galling.
Indeed; the housing crisis did not pop up overnight; it’s a fairly complex nut to crack. Which is why the notion of “ban the cuckoo funds”, while a useful soundbite, doesn’t really solve anything; there are apartment blocks with families living in them now that would not have been built were it not for those self same cuckoo funds.
“I must add that I find the fact that the govt invested in one of these cuckoo funds absolutely galling.”
If you have a private pension, it’s likely that you personally have also invested in a cuckoo fund.
“If you have a private pension, it’s likely that you personally have also invested in a cuckoo fund.”
No fear of that anyway, as I don’t have a private pension, but I take your point. A necessary evil, of sorts.
I’m curious as to what your opinion is regarding this housing crisis and the fact that none of the policies implemented so far (across any governments in the past, say, 10-15 years) have had any meaningful effect on this crisis.
+1
Horrifying. And sickening
Rob,that number is irrelevant what % of new builds annually,how did you ‘guess” -I’m at closer 10% of new.
Of apartments, cuckoo funds own something like 5% of the total
It costs an awful lot of money to build a block of apartments; I can’t imagine there are many other than cuckoo funds that would have enough resources to do so, so I would not be surprised if they owned a proportion of new builds (of apartments, certainly).
Rob-they just bulk presales to RE unit funds off plans,nothing very new or exciting,new to Ireland yes,these conditions were created by FFG so they own this.
The pipeline of pending deals (yet to hit register) is said to be staggering, by irish standards at over 10%,some in DC/NY think it will bring down this govt.
Rob is right about the cost of building apartments but rather than do something about it, it’s just thrown around as an excuse. The Constitution provides more great cover.
Funny how everyone can identify the problems but bar tinkering around the edges with weak and ineffective measures, no one can identify any real solutions.
The desperate clamour by the government to spring into action now they (claim to) know these cuckoo funds are setting their sights on suburban commuter-belt housing estates while still giving the thumbs up to swallow up any existing apartments in Dublin proper, just shows that no lessons have been learned from the last bubble.
It is not only supply but location and density that should matter. Low density 3-bed semi-D housing estates tacked on to the outskirts of towns (anywhere but Dublin) populated entirely by everyone at the exact same ages and stage in life is just repeating the same tired mistakes not to mention flying in the face of sustainable and green living. Young folks want and deserve better than the low-level grimness of these estates. Focus should be on prioritising higher quality medium density socially mixed apartments and urban houses in the right locations but the obsession continues with the 3-bed “starter” (read flung-up) semi-Ds in a semi-rural and soulless commuter-ville setting. Even if the supply of these semi-Ds for purchase were much better, they offer no sustainable solution.
Do you really think new ugly Ballymun style high rise apartment blocks to pack families in like sardines as favoured by the Greenwash party is a solution?
Time FFFGGP were extinguished from polluting politics and housing policy.
Lol. Yes of course that is what I mean! Sheesh – with your low expectations of housing- a flung-up poorly insulated overpriced semi-rural semi-D estate flooded with cars and young lower-middle class families or a poorly maintained prefabricated tower block solely occupied by an unfairly disadvantaged working class, it’s no wonder there is a problem of policy.
You need to look up result of Vienna’s decades long socially inclusive, sustainable and affordable housing policy or indeed some other major continental countries. They may not have got everything right but we are literally light years behind. And in most of these counties property prices are not a rollercoaster ride and do not deviate to extent we are familiar with. Tenant protections are obviously also much stronger.
I have no faith in the Shinners either. Lots of promises- little detail.
What’s the answer Boxy?
D4 types don’t want high density in their backyard
There is no one answer,it’s searching for simplistic silver bullet solutions to appease the likes you,that has us in this mess,do you have anything interesting or intelligent to add ?
€433k for an apartment? Out of most people price range anyway. So if there is a ban on this type of bulk sale of houses……won’t that mean property prices may fall?
….it’s cheap capital to build,it’s more not less that’s needed,it will lead to price increases either way.
“This is the end result of all the bright lights, and the comp trips, and all the champagne, and free hotel suites, and all the broads and all the booze. It’s all been arranged just for us to get your money.”
Ace.
– “Oh look, possible social housing”
– “Fup off pov commie”