27 apartments at Robswall in Malahide on the market at €7.5m

Buyer to secure return of 6% on mainly penthouse apartments

Robswall:  one of the most striking residential schemes in the north suburbs
Robswall: one of the most striking residential schemes in the north suburbs

A multi-family residential investment in the affluent seaside suburb of Malahide in north Dublin is expected to be of interest to both institutional and private investors when it goes on the market today through Knight Frank.

Adrian Truick of that agency is guiding €7.5 million for a development of 27 apartments at the successful Robswall development which will show an initial return of 6 per cent.

The apartments are being sold on behalf of UK property group Development Securities who bought them as part of a portfolio of 85 homes and nine acres from the developer Gerry Gannon in July, 2014, for €36 million.

Robswall, located about 16km from the city centre, includes 363 completed houses and apartments on a 40 acre site featuring a gently curving Georgian-style terrace of spacious houses overlooking a mature 90-acre public park.

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The apartments in this sale are located in the Light house, Spinnaker, Anchorage and Walk blocks, and are made up of one, two and three bedroom units ranging from 56sq m-122sq m (602sq ft- 1,313sq ft).

The homes are fitted out to a high standard including McNally kitchens, tiled bathrooms and timber flooring.

The apartments in the Walk are own-door ground and first-floor units.

Rent roll

Most of the 27 apartments are let on standard tenancies and are producing a rent roll of just under €400,000 per annum.

The rents, ranging from €1,000 to €1,800 per month, offer considerable scope for growth, according to Knight Frank.

With rental growth this year at over 9.2 per cent in the north city and tenant demand at its highest for years, the agency suggests that the rent roll will inevitably move to over €460,000 per annum.

At the guide price, the overall cost works out at €3,498 persq m (€325 per sq ft) , with individual apartments priced €190,00-€370,000.

As the portfolio includes nine three-bed penthouses the investment value reflects a significant discount on the levels achieved for individual apartment sales.

The initial return of 6 per cent will obviously appeal to investors given that it offers a significant premium on standard annuity or deposit rates.

However, the investment will also attract the interest of buyers looking to sell on the apartments to individual buyers considering the discount available for bulk buying.

Jack Fagan

Jack Fagan

Jack Fagan is the former commercial-property editor of The Irish Times