Who are Ireland's Landlords?
The image of the landlord as someone with a few extra properties who rents them out is only a small part of the story according to recent findings based on a dataset compiled by the Department of Finance.
The report, Providing stability and certainty for investment in property in Ireland, published in October 2024 shows that 50 “large residential landlords” own more than 40,000 rental units built or under construction in Ireland, and that these landlords, often investment funds, own 46% of apartments built between 2017 and 2023, while private households own just 13%. According to the evidence, the rental sector in Ireland is becoming increasingly bound up with international and local financial capital.
The dataset compiled by the Department is “is incomplete as there may be large landlords not included and for those who are included some data may not be verified, or verifiable,” the report said. “The dataset estimates that 20,500 units of private rental stock have been built from 1 January 2017 to 30 April 2024 for, or by, these large landlords, consisting of around 19,000 (92.5%) apartments and 1,500 houses (7.5%).”
“The Central Bank estimates that the value of professionally-managed, portfolio investible CRE [commercial real estate] market could be in the range of €55-60 billion. This figure includes €29 billion held by Irish investment funds …., €3 billion by insurance companies and €1.3 billion by REITs [real estate investment trusts].”
“The current investor base includes, APG (Dutch pension fund), Hesta195 (Australian pension fund), Nuveen-TIAA (Canadian pension fund), Allianz (German insurer), Patrizia (German asset manager), M&G (division of Prudential), Abrdn (UK investment manager) and the ILIM managed Irish
Residential Property fund on behalf of its investor clients.” They said that funding for property in Ireland “also comes from investment funds managed by asset managers, mainly headquartered in the US – examples include Hines, Starwood Capital, TPG Angelo Gordon and Ares – which are, in turn, funded by pension funds, insurance firms, corporates, SWFs* and HNWIs**.”
In addition to the political clout that these massive investors carry, there is a direct link between landlordism and Leinster House as almost 20% of current TDs are landlords according to the latest register of members' interests. Thirty two of the 174 TDs declared rental income in the last year, including Sinn Féin TDs Cathy Bennett and Joanna Byrne.
These are the people and forces behind the rental market in Ireland. Only a class-based struggle can ensure adequate housing conditions for Irish workers.
* SWFs are sovereign wealth funds. These are global investments made by capitalist states in real assets such as land, buildings and precious metals, and financial assets such as stocks, bonds.
**HNWIs are high net worth individuals. These are people who own assets worth $1 million or more, not including the house they live in.
Original reporting here