Shares boost for property firm Ires Reit as rents rise
Shares in Ires Reit rose as the country’s largest private housing landlord predicted “significant” demand for the 800 additional rental homes it plans to bring to the market, in which rents continue to climb.
Ires gained 1.5% as it unveiled “a strong pipeline” of new properties in its 2018 earnings report. It plans to pay an additional dividend of 3c, which means its total payout for 2018 will be 5.6c.
Amid the housing crisis, there is no sign of rental costs slowing. Rental costs rose an annual 6.6%, according to CSO figures.
Ires Reit, which in total has 2,679 rental units, benefited last year from “higher average monthly rents” and secured occupancy rates of effectively 100%.
It charged an average monthly rent of €1,599, up 5.4% from 2017. Profits climbed €119.8m from €65.1m in the previous year.
“The prospects for growth in the Irish market remain good, resulting in a combination of attractive yields and rental growth,” said CEO Margaret Sweeney.
“Looking forward, the structural drivers of demand for private rental residential accommodation (population growth, strong inward investment, and economic growth and urbanisation) are likely to underpin demand for some time to come.”
Earlier this week Ires said it had paid €13.9m for 52 residential units in north Dublin. It has previously said it will look to Cork and Galway for further growth.
The prospects for its net asset value “look very positive, with around 800 units scheduled to come on stream over the next few years from recently announced acquisitions and the existing development pipeline”, said broker Davy.
