AN INVESTMENT FUND has purchased 85% of the homes in a new housing estate in north Dublin.

Forty-six of the 54 units in Belcamp Manor in Balgriffin, Dublin 17 were sold last month for over €21.5 million. 

A filing on the Property Price Register shows that the properties were purchased for €21,585,904 in December 2023. 

Sources in the industry have confirmed the houses were bought by an investment fund, but the name of the firm has not been revealed. The Land Registry has not yet been updated to reflect the new owners. 

The houses, which were launched by estate agents Knight Frank in December 2022, are fully furnished and located on the Malahide Road. 

Occu, a private rental sector company owned by Sw3 Capital, is now advertising the four-bedroom properties for rent at €3,175 per month.

In a statement, Occu – which has properties for rent at 15 other locations in Dublin – made clear it does not own the property, describing itself as an “Irish SME solely focused on property management services in the residential sector”. Occu also said that its parent company, SW3 Capital, “does not own, or have any involvement whatsoever, in the properties”.

It added: “Occu is an Irish SME solely focused on property management services in the residential sector. This involves the professional rental and management of properties on behalf of a range of clients. Regulated by the Property Services Authority and as a small local employer, Occu operates properties across the State on behalf of long-term institutional landlords such as pension funds and insurance companies.”

Stamp duty

The Government introduced a 10% rate of stamp duty on bulk purchases of 10 homes or more in June 2021 in an effort to tackle so-called cuckoo funds buying up housing developments before first-time buyers. 

It came a month after the Business Post reported that Round Hill Capital and its partner SFO Capital had completed a deal to purchase 135 of 170 houses at the Mullen Park estate in Maynooth in Co Kildare.

The two companies, both headquartered in the UK, also bought 112 homes at the Bay Meadows estate in Hollystown, Dublin 15 the previous month.

However, in July 2021, the Government passed a controversial amendment to allow funds to side-step the 10% stamp duty if they lease back homes to the State for social housing.