Student housing and offices on Blackhall Place for over €10m

A mixed development of student accommodation and office suites at 9-13 Blackhall Place in Dublin 7 goes for sale today by private treaty in the expectation that it will sell for over €10 million.

Marguerite Boyle of Savills, who is handling the sale, is expecting strong bidding from both local and international investors impressed by the gross rental income of around €975,000 from the complex and the net initial return of 9.33 per cent.

The mixed portfolio includes two residential blocks with 33 apartments and 109 beds and a third building divided into 19 office suites. The residential element is producing rents of €640,000 while the offices bring in €335,000.

Boyle said that, with the demand for student housing so strong in the area, new owners would consider converting the third block of 1,694.5sq m (18,239sq ft gross internal area) from short-term office suites into further residential accommodation.

She said there were also a number of asset management opportunities to an incoming purchaser to add value in the short to medium term.

Dublin Institute of Technology

Blackhall Place is in a fast changing area close to Grangegorman where the €200 million Dublin Institute of Technology is being developed to cater for around 22,000 students. Current plans suggest the campus will accommodate around 2,000 bed spaces.

There are around 9,000 purpose-built student bed spaces in Dublin both university-owned and privately built stock.

The Higher Education Authority has reported that, of the 75,131 student population in Dublin, only 12 per cent of them can avail of purpose-built accommodation compared to an average of 32 per cent in the UK.

Savills say that , of the 6,000 bed spaces in the Dublin planning pipeline, it was uncertain whether all of them could be delivered but if they were built it would increase the supply ratio to about 19 per cent.