Best residental investment towns

handlemaster

With the city prices going up all the time what towns outside of the major urban areas are a good investment ?

wordofwarning

IMO the answer is none. The fact REITs, PLC developers, pension funds etc are all really only investing in Dublin is rather alarming. There teams of analysts and researchers have crunched the numbers and realised the risk of investing outside of Dublin is greater than the rewards.

Dublin has a high diversified economy. It does not rely on a single company or industry for jobs. If IT firms left Dublin tomorrow, it would be bad for the local economy. But it would not destroy it. If a single American owned factory closed in a lot of towns/cities in Ireland, the town is finished. Look at how when Dell closed, Limerick a decent sized city was heavily impacted.

There is a massive risk in investing in a town with a local economy that is not in any diversified and often reliant on a single employer. Rarely do the yields outside of Dublin reflect this. IMO there is no decent investment outside of Dublin, as the yields don't reflect the massive risk you are taking on

Colking

wordofwarning wrote: »

IMO the answer is none. The fact REITs, PLC developers, pension funds etc are all really only investing in Dublin is rather alarming. There teams of analysts and researchers have crunched the numbers and realised the risk of investing outside of Dublin is greater than the rewards.

Dublin has a high diversified economy. It does not rely on a single company or industry for jobs. If IT firms left Dublin tomorrow, it would be bad for the local economy. But it would not destroy it. If a single American owned factory closed in a lot of towns/cities in Ireland, the town is finished. Look at how when Dell closed, Limerick a decent sized city was heavily impacted.

There is a massive risk in investing in a town with a local economy that is not in any diversified and often reliant on a single employer. Rarely do the yields outside of Dublin reflect this. IMO there is no decent investment outside of Dublin, as the yields don't reflect the massive risk you are taking on

Username checks out

Graham

wordofwarning wrote: »

There is a massive risk in investing in a town with a local economy that is not in any diversified and often reliant on a single employer. Rarely do the yields outside of Dublin reflect this. IMO there is no decent investment outside of Dublin, as the yields don't reflect the massive risk you are taking on

Not every provincial town is a 1 employer town and fortunes can change either way.

I've seen plenty of better yields outside Dublin the problem is often the total amounts are lower and the workload is higher.

I know of a block of apartments in a provincial town selling for the price of a house in Dublin.

Yields would be much better on the block of apartments but a handfull of apartments would inevitably take more management.

Also factor in provincial towns are behind the curve on price increases so there's arguably more scope for capital appreciation than there would be on a Dublin property.

The_Conductor

Thats just not true- I've been to the Allsop auctions- and have lost count of the number of apartment complexes outside of Dublin for sale. A staggering number of them were in border counties- but there are or were significant numbers of them out there for anyone who was/is willing to seek them out.

Agree with you re: Galway- there is no value there for any prospective investor- the RPZ'ing of the entire city simply is the nail in the coffin on that one.

Maynooth- is a possibility- but its damn expensive...........

Honestly- I wouldn't really suggest any particular area is reasonable value in the current market.

Villa05

handlemaster wrote:

With the city prices going up all the time what towns outside of the major urban areas are a good investment ?

The only city left where you can buy for less than the cost of construction is probably Limerick.
The city is in better place now than when Dell was at capacity, much more diversified and becoming a hub for medical devices.
Severe shortage of rental properties, given the large student population and the plethora of companies that have come in and require multi lingual staff. Many of the multi nationals are growing and expanding

On the supply side many landlords bailed out during the crash,
Regeneration seems to be good for removing supply, not so good at replacing it

wordofwarning

Banks were pawning off loan books of BTL properties outside of Dublin, which some vulture funds snapped up. But no REIT saw the allure of buying property outside of Dublin. In the last 5/6 years, there has been blocks of apartments for sale in Cork, Limerick etc. None of the REITs have been tempted with property outside of Dublin.

Some of the REITs that brought loan books with assets in the likes of Cork actually sold them off eg Green REIT sold off / are selling off assets not in the GDA.

IRES/Kennedy Wilson have both brought green field sites for development in Dublin. They could have brought sites in Cork etc if they wish for development

Large institutional investors don't see property outside of Dublin as an attractive investment. That says a lot

wordofwarning

Graham wrote: »

Not every provincial town is a 1 employer town and fortunes can change either way.

I've seen plenty of better yields outside Dublin the problem is often the total amounts are lower and the workload is higher.

I know of a block of apartments in a provincial town selling for the price of a house in Dublin.

Yields would be much better on the block of apartments but a handfull of apartments would inevitably take more management.

Also factor in provincial towns are behind the curve on price increases so there's arguably more scope for capital appreciation than there would be on a Dublin property.

The yields are more than likely higher, as investors see that the risk of owning property outside of Dublin is a lot higher. Limerick was not a single employer town, but Dell closing still had a massive impact on the local economy. No local economy outside of Dublin is highly diversified.

Yields and capital appreciation outside of Dublin might be higher. IMO it does not in anyway justify the massive risk you are taking on by investing in an area which lacks a diversified economy.

Investing in Dublin City is unique. There is little risk of the four councils of Dublin losing the run of themselves and letting anyone with a parcel of land build on it like in Donegal. There is limited scope for an increase in supply of housing in Dublin. The same can't be said for regional towns where is tons of farmland that can easily be developed in a few years, if the figures make sense.

Villa05

wordofwarning wrote:

Large institutional investors don't see property outside of Dublin as an attractive investment. That says a lot

Following the crowd is not the best investment philosophy

wordofwarning wrote:

Yields and capital appreciation outside of Dublin might be higher. IMO it does not in anyway justify the massive risk you are taking on by investing in an area which lacks a diversified economy.

Was it not Dublin that fell the hardest and fastest of all the markets in the last bust. I'm sure it had the most diversified economy at that time also.

Graham

wordofwarning wrote: »

The yields are more than likely higher, as investors see that the risk of owning property outside of Dublin is a lot higher. Limerick was not a single employer town, but Dell closing still had a massive impact on the local economy. No local economy outside of Dublin is highly diversified.

I don't get the logic. You would never recommend investing outside of Dublin because Dell?

Of course a large scale employer in a regional town can have an impact. That works both ways though, a large scale employer moving into an area can dramatically increase rents/property prices.

I'd say the downside risk is fairly limited at this stage, most of the weaker performing employers have already been weeded out.

wordofwarning wrote: »

Yields and capital appreciation outside of Dublin might be higher. IMO it does not in anyway justify the massive risk you are taking on by investing in an area which lacks a diversified economy.

An opinion you are completely entitled to hold even if it has meant you missing out on opportunities where properties have increased 100%, 200%, 300% in value over the last two years.

wordofwarning wrote: »

Investing in Dublin City is unique. There is little risk of the four councils of Dublin losing the run of themselves and letting anyone with a parcel of land build on it like in Donegal.

Instead you have different types of risks. Another crash could see investors unable to service debt. Tightening or short-term renting could see a sudden return to market of property. RPZ legislation could continue to cap rents in the face of increasing property prices.......

wordofwarning wrote: »

There is limited scope for an increase in supply of housing in Dublin. The same can't be said for regional towns where is tons of farmland that can easily be developed in a few years, if the figures make sense.

For most regional towns, (or investors in regional towns) such development activity now would be a good sign and a positive reflection on their investment rather than something to be afraid of.

qwerty ui op

handlemaster wrote: »

With the city prices going up all the time what towns outside of the major urban areas are a good investment ?

Getting well away from "city prices" I'd be looking urban centers in the southern counties.
This a small country and roads have improved a lot, even since 2005/2006, which makes all the larger towns well connected to each other.
Utter nonsense in this thread about diversity, people living in Munster take the same notice of a 20min, 45mins or 1.5hr journey to work as they do in Dublin.
The towns along this route Limerick to Tralee to Killarney to Mallow to Cork to Waterford to Wexford are all very well connected and just as risk free as the cities.