Profits have soared at Ireland's biggest private landlord as rents climb
Ires REIT has a portfolio of nearly 2,500 apartments, most of which are in Dublin.
IRES REIT, IRELAND’S biggest private landlord, saw its profits spike last year as rents continue to rise across the country.
Launched in 2014, the company has quickly built up a large property portfolio of nearly 2,500 apartments, the vast majority of which are based in Dublin.
Reporting its annual results today for 2017, the firm said that its revenue from investment properties rose to €45 million, up from €39 million the year before.
Separately, its net rental income jumped from €31 million in 2016 to over €36 million.
The company reported a profit for the year of €65 million, a significant rise compared to the €47 million it made in 2016.
Ires said that it was helped by “stronger occupancies and higher average monthly rents compared to the same period last year”.
Some 99.8% of the company’s residential units were occupied as of the end of the year, which the firm attributed to “strong market fundamentals in the Irish residential rental sector”.
It added that the average monthly rent for its the total portfolio rose by €90 per month, from €1,427 per apartment at the end of 2016 to €1,517.
Ires said this was “largely due to strong increases in monthly rental rates on renewals and turnovers during the year and higher occupancy rates compared to last year”.
Opportunities
Margaret Sweeney, the company’s chief executive, said that the firm “continues to invest strongly in the supply of apartments and houses for rent through a combination of acquisitions and build to let”.
She said the company will continue to expand and will look for the opportunity to invest in “urban centres outside of Dublin”.
In a briefing note published this morning, Goodbody Stockbrokers said the figures indicate “a very strong performance” from Ires.
“The strong, secure and stable income base provides for attractive, and increasingly, competitive dividends from Ireland’s only residential REIT,” it said.
Ires’ spike in profits comes amid a market where rents are soaring across the country.
The Daft.ie quarterly report for the three months to the end of December found that the average Dublin rent is €1,822, €380 higher per month than at the Celtic Tiger peak.
