Cairn sells 229 homes to landlord for €78m

Angelo Gordon and Carysfort do second deal with listed house builder

House builder Cairn Homes has sold more than 220 dwellings in Dublin to an investment-firm backed landlord for €78 million.

Cairn said on Friday that it had sold 229 apartments, houses and duplexes in Lucan, west Dublin, to a company funded by US investment firm Angelo Gordon and managed by Irish business Carysfort Capital.

The Dublin-listed house builder said that the buyers paid €78.75 million for the new homes, all of which Cairn intends to finish by the end of this year.

Cairn is building them in Lucan's Shackleton Park and Gandon Park, which are part of an estate of more than 1,100 homes, the company's biggest development to date.

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Carysfort and Angelo Gordon intend leasing the properties to tenants, in keeping with a trend in the Republic where investors buy blocks of homes to cash in on high demand for rented accommodation.

German investor Realis recently paid Cairn's rival Glenveagh Properties more than €55 million for an apartment block in Dundrum on Dublin's southside.

New York-based Angelo Gordon invests in property and other businesses, managing $36 billion for its clients.

Carysfort Capital is an Irish property manager manager that lets homes in Clare, central and suburban Dublin, Galway and Kildare.

Hanover Quay

Carysfort bought an apartment block on Hanover Quay in central Dublin from Cairn for €101 million last year with Angelo Holdings’ cash. Yesterday’s sale was the seventh in which the New York investor has funded the Irish property manager.

Carysfort managing director and founder Michael Looney welcomed that his company had done a second deal with Cairn following its Hanover Quay acquisition.

“Carysfort Capital are actively looking for new high-quality residential opportunities in areas with strong rental demand, which meet the high standards expected by the rental market today,” he said.

The properties snapped up by the pair are close to Adamstown railway station, from where trains run to the centre of the capital.

Cairn indicated yesterday it had sold more than 500 homes in the Lucan estate to families and individuals over the last two years. The company will issue a 2019 trading statement next week.

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O'Halloran

Barry O’Halloran covers energy, construction, insolvency, and gaming and betting, among other areas