A new report has found that both rent collection and occupancy have remained high so far this year in residential developments across Dublin.
That's despite the difficult economic and financial conditions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The study was carried out by property consultants CBRE Ireland in conjunction with MD Property and looked at rent collection and occupancy trends in a 500+ mid-tier residential rental portfolio in Dublin.
They found that over the first six months of the year rent collection has been much stronger than in some sectors of the commercial property market.
"In the immediate aftermath of Ireland officially going into lockdown in March 2020, there were legitimate concerns about the potential implications for many sectors of Ireland’s economy," said Marie Hunt, Executive Director at CBRE and Mark Dunleavy, CEO of MD Property.
"However, interestingly, despite the severity of the economic impact of the Covid-19 lockdown, residential rent collection in many schemes has remained largely unchanged in the year-to-date and occupancy in the Dublin market has remained very high. In addition, demand for residential schemes has remained strong."
The authors point to high rent collection rates and occupancy rates reported by professional investors like Kennedy Wilson and IRES Rent in recent weeks.
CBRE says it is not clear yet if the trend will continue for the rest of the year as lockdown restrictions ease, but it expects it will because of the constrained supply and strong demand.
