ISIF invests €25m to fund delivery of 1,900 new homes

ISIF invests €25m to fund delivery of 1,900 new homes

Sunday 27 November 2022

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), part of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), is to invest €25m to fund the development of up to 1,900 new homes in counties Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow over the next 5 years.

ISIF will provide a group-level corporate facility to D/RES, an established homebuilder that was set up in 2017. D/RES is one of the leading sustainable homebuilders in Ireland, and the first Irish homebuilder to achieve Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) accreditation. D/RES will use the capital invested by ISIF to finance the acquisition and development of up to 5 individual sites across the three counties

Approximately two-thirds of the homes will be own-door houses and duplexes (starting from 2 beds), with one-third made up of apartments. Social and affordable homes will account for approximately one in six of the new homes.

The investment builds on ISIF’s existing housing investment programme, which is one of ISIF’s four key investment themes.

This programme has resulted in ISIF committing over €1bn to commercial investments in delivering new homes for owner-occupiers, renters and those in need of social or affordable housing.

ISIF’s investments to date are expected to deliver more than 25,000 new homes across a mixture of dwelling types and tenures, with over 16,000 of these targeted for delivery by end 2025. These investments include partnerships to create major housebuilding platforms with vehicles such as Activate Capital, Pearl, Cardinal and specialist housing infrastructure joint venture HISCo.

ISIF’s capital is targeted at addressing capital gaps and, in keeping with ISIF’s wider policy of attracting private sector co-investment to invest alongside ISIF, has to date “crowded in” €3.5bn of third party capital to accelerate the supply of new homes in Ireland.

Patrick Durkan, CEO of D/RES said:

“We're delighted with this investment by ISIF, the Irish state’s sovereign investment fund, which underpins our ambition to unlock land banks and provide housing at scale.

The ISIF investment in D/RES is also a strong endorsement for the company and team as we pioneer the delivery of sustainable homes with a positive impact on both communities and the climate.”

Nick Ashmore, Director of ISIF said:

“This investment will increase the supply of new homes and builds on our existing programme of support for new homes which has committed more than €1bn to date.

We are pleased to team up with D/RES to provide these homes in the Greater Dublin Area, in line with the strong demand for new homes, and we look forward to working closely with them to accelerate their delivery.”