A comprehensive new report on the Irish residential investment and new homes markets by estate agents Hooke & MacDonald reveals that institutional capital has returned strongly to Ireland's residential sector following a prolonged period of subdued activity. Approximately €644 million of Multi-Family / Private Rental Sector (PRS) transactions were completed during the second half of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, demonstrating renewed investor confidence in the Irish market. However, despite the recovery in investment activity, the report warns that new apartment delivery remains significantly below the level required to meet Ireland's growing housing needs.
The report states that pricing expectations between investors and vendors have largely realigned over the last 12 months, enabling significant residential transactions to proceed and attracting new international investors to the Irish market. This marks a notable improvement on recent years when rising interest rates, viability challenges and regulatory uncertainty led to a sharp slowdown in investment activity.
Among the most significant transactions highlighted in the report was the €212 million sale of Newmarket Yards in Dublin 8 during the first quarter of 2026, the largest residential investment transaction completed in Ireland during the period. Other major transactions included the €177 million acquisition of Spencer Place in Dublin 1 by Ardstone, the €79 million purchase of Birchwood Court in Santry and the €75 million acquisition of 18 Newmarket Square in Dublin 8 by German investor MEAG.
Other key insights from the Hooke & MacDonald Report include the following:
The total investment spend across all asset classes in Ireland in 2025 was €2.44 billion. Multi-Family / Private Rental Sector transactions amounted to €400 million, an increase of 74 per cent on the €230 million recorded in 2024. The Living Sector as a whole, including student accommodation, accounted for €583 million of investment activity during the year.
Residential investment activity continued its positive momentum into 2026. During the first quarter of the year the Multi-Family / Private Rental Sector accounted for 55 per cent of all investment turnover in Ireland, making it the strongest performing investment sector during the period.
The report highlights that institutional capital has funded more than 22,000 rental homes in the Greater Dublin Area since 2016, providing accommodation for around 55,000 people. These developments have played a critical role in increasing rental supply and meeting housing demand during a period of strong population growth.
However, concerns remain regarding the future pipeline of apartment development. The Hooke & MacDonald report states that the number of newly completed apartments available for rent in Dublin has fallen from more than 4,000 units during late 2023 and early 2024 to around 1,500 units during the first quarter of 2026. Most of these developments commenced construction during 2023 and early 2024, with relatively few large new apartment schemes currently under construction.
The shortage of new rental accommodation under construction, combined with the continued reduction in the number of small private landlords operating in the market, is contributing to an ongoing supply shortage and continued upward pressure on rents.
According to the report, recent changes to Ireland's rent regulation framework have been welcomed by investors and are already improving confidence in the sector. The reforms are expected to support additional investment activity and improve the viability of future residential development.
Ireland remains an attractive destination for international capital due to its strong economic performance, growing population, favourable demographics, continued foreign direct investment and significant housing supply deficit.
There is substantial international capital seeking investment opportunities in the Irish residential sector. The challenge now is ensuring that sufficient viable development opportunities exist to attract that capital and facilitate the delivery of the homes required across the country.
While the recovery in residential investment activity is encouraging, the report states that increasing housing supply must remain the central objective of housing policy. Addressing planning delays, infrastructure deficits, land availability constraints and apartment viability issues will be critical if Ireland is to achieve the scale of housing delivery required over the coming decade.
On the supply side challenges over the coming year will be the lack of opportunities to invest as a result of current stakeholders holding off on selling stabilised portfolios and also viability challenges for new apartment delivery. On the rental demand side, rents continue to rise and there is a dearth of options for renters that are reducing as some landlords sell and recently completed developments are let up, but not followed by new projects.
The report assesses conditions across residential investment, Private Rental Sector, new homes delivery, student accommodation and demographics, and examines the extent to which policy measures are beginning to work and where they may need adjustment if the desired outcomes are to be achieved i.e. very material increases in housing delivery across all tenures and locations.
The report states that the concern for those looking to invest in multi-family / PRS in Dublin is the lack of opportunities. Because of the inherent stability provided by multifamily / Private Rental Sector, debt has been plentiful across Europe, including in Ireland, as lenders look to increase their exposure to the sector. Many owners of stock refinanced in the last 12 to 18 months and are holding off on selling while they seek to create value in their portfolios through active asset management of tenant vacates and new lettings.
When high-quality investments are brought to the market, they are attracting significant institutional capital, and this is expected to influence pricing for investments marketed over the course of the year. As more investments transact, stakeholders who have been undertaking asset management strategies with the new rent regulations will gradually start to release their investments to the market.
The lack of new activity is not down to the availability of capital for Irish living sector investments or the willingness of Irish developers to develop; it is down to viability. The conflict in the Middle East has played a part in this, negatively impacting construction supply chain costs. The same circumstances are being seen across Europe. The result is going to be continued upward monetary pressure on rents and investment pricing for stabilized portfolios.
While there are expected to be a number of investment transactions of stabilized stock in 2026, the prospects for large scale forward commits and forward funds of new build stock are limited in Dublin and unlikely in other locations. The question is whether the Government is prepared to examine what else can be done at a State level to ensure Ireland fosters new supply of apartments for the Private Rental Sector.
Student Housing Investment Sector (PBSA)
The Hooke & MacDonald report states that Ireland’s student accommodation market continues to exhibit a significant structural imbalance between supply and demand. Total full-time third level student numbers now exceed 215,000, reflecting sustained growth across both domestic and international cohorts. In contrast, the total stock of purpose-built student accommodation remains limited at approximately 47,000 beds nationally, with only marginal growth in recent years. This has resulted in a substantial shortfall of accommodation across key university cities, most notably in Dublin where the deficit is estimated to exceed 30,000 beds. Student-to-bed ratios remain elevated across the main urban centres, highlighting the scale of unmet demand and the ongoing reliance on the private rental sector.
The underlying fundamentals of the Student Housing sector in Ireland remain very strong, supported by continued growth in student numbers and a persistent undersupply of accommodation. However, the trajectory of the sector will be determined by delivery rather than demand. Unlocking supply at scale will require improved development viability, aided by tax incentives, greater clarity in the regulatory environment and continued alignment between public policy and private capital. Over the medium term, PBSA is expected to remain a key focus for investors within the living sector, with opportunities likely to arise across both stabilised assets and forward funding of new schemes.
New Homes Market
In the new homes market first time buyers remain central, supported by Help to Buy and First Home Schemes, although the €500,000 upper threshold on the Help-to-Buy scheme is out of date having been set 8 years ago. Demand for energy efficient homes continues to grow, reflecting both running cost awareness and lender incentives.
The building industry has been playing its part by acquiring multiple sites, where available, seeking planning permission in a difficult environment, developing larger sites at speed, producing superb quality, well designed, energy efficient new home developments and creating vibrant new communities around the country. All this, despite a considerable number of obstacles in the way of new homes delivery. These include insufficient zoned land for housing at affordable prices and a lack of urgency by some councils in finalising development plans and zoning sufficient land to match the latest population increases. At central and local levels, Ireland has been underproviding in terms of zoned land.
The regulatory costs are mounting up, pushing up house prices and reducing delivery viability. These include the concrete levy, carbon tax, Part V increased to 20 per cent and the water levy.
One of the most positive moves by the government in the past year in relation to housing, industry and the economy was the formation of the ‘Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce’ and the strong commitment to abide by all its recommendations. Importantly, timelines have been put in place on the recommendations. One of the aims will be to make the Judicial Review process fast, by reducing frivolous delays, rebalancing costs in a more equitable manner and allowing a more commonsense approach where omissions or minor deficiencies do not cause a reset back to the start of the process.
A good variety of housing types are needed to create vibrant neighbourhoods to enable people to live in suitable accommodation at different stages of their life, whether it be for purchase or rental. Affordability, sustainability and architectural design are key elements in achieving these objectives.
The Hooke & MacDonald report states that a substantial increase in apartment developments is needed for both the owner occupier and rental sectors. The Croí Cónaithe (Cities) Scheme is a very good scheme, which is designed to address the viability of apartment delivery for owner occupation in the five main cities in Ireland, providing subsidies to bridge the gap between delivery costs and market prices. It is already having a positive impact on the market, assisting many first time buyers and other owner occupiers to achieve home ownership.
Ireland’s population has been steadily increasing since 1961. The last 15 years has seen continued growth, well beyond the estimates of State projections which consistently under-forecast. As a result, the planning and development of housing has fallen well behind the annual and cumulative requirements.
The policy framework developed by the Government ‘Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025–2030’ is very comprehensive but further adjustments and initiatives are now required in the housing system. These measures could include a further reduction in the VAT rate for apartments, increasing the Help-to- Buy threshold in line with historic inflation away from the restrictive €500,000, further funding and expansion of Croí Cónaithe to other cities and towns, proactive re-zoning of land across all local authorities, implementing the apartment guidelines, and implementing the recommendations of the ‘Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce’.