![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789847301_680_1784803479672-9ae96ac7-c636-4bcb-998c-c0aedcc60931.jpeg\"\/)
Soaring energy costs and why \u2018we can\u2019t protect everyone from the impact of war\u2019<\/p>\nOne of Ireland\u2019s largest corporate landlords with 3,500 rental properties on its books has partly credited housing shortages for a surge in profits last year.<\/p>\n
The institutional landlord, backed by international investors, flipped a \u20ac20 million loss to a \u20ac24 million gain last year attributing the one-year profit boom in part to the \u201csignificant undersupply of housing\u201d.<\/p>\n
French insurance company Axa and US property investor Kennedy Wilson have amassed one of the largest rental portfolios in Ireland.<\/p>\n
They own some of the State\u2019s biggest residential complexes, such as Clancy Quay in Dublin 8, Capital Dock in Dublin\u2019s docklands and the Elysian in Cork.<\/p>\n
The 3,506 rental properties, which earned average monthly rents of \u20ac2,546 last year, are held across several investment funds, including Irish asset management companies that do not publish their income and profit figures.<\/p>\n
Many large institutional landlords in Ireland use these complex corporate structures, resulting in limited public information being made available about how much big corporate landlords make from rental properties.<\/p>\n
In a rare financial snapshot of the money being made by corporate investors from a large property portfolio, an Irish firm called Avicdale Limited has published figures showing profits made from tenants in 3,506 rented homes.<\/p>\n
New accounts for Avicdale, which Axa has used to hold its 50 per cent stake in the funds, show it made a profit of \u20ac24 million in 2025 \u2013 compared with a loss of \u20ac20 million the previous year \u2013 from its stake in the rented properties. Kennedy Wilson owns the other half share of the funds and manages the portfolio.<\/p>\n
This was the largest profit booked since 2019, when it made \u20ac24.5 million.<\/p>\n
The funds that own the large rental portfolio recorded a \u20ac25.9 million increase in their asset portfolio, worth almost \u20ac1.2 billion at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s directors put the increase in the value of the rental properties down to \u201cthe fact that residential properties in Ireland remain strong, driven by stable demand and a significant undersupply of housing\u201d.<\/p>\n
Soaring energy costs and why \u2018we can\u2019t protect everyone from the impact of war\u2019<\/p>\n
Corporate landlords are among the big beneficiaries in the housing crisis as shortages of homes drive up rents.<\/p>\n
Forecasts suggest that more than 40,000 homes will be built this year, but it is estimated to be 20,000 short of what is required to meet the Government\u2019s goal of 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030 to address the housing crisis. <\/p>\n
Institutional landlords make up a large share of the Irish rental market.<\/p>\n
These landlords, defined as holding at least 100 tenancies, control almost 16 per cent of rented properties in the State, or 37,500 tenancies, according to the Residential Tenancies Board, the public body overseeing the rental sector.<\/p>\n
Big corporate landlords could be in line for further gains due to Government changes to rental regulations.<\/p>\n
Last year, Minister for Housing James Browne improved protections for sitting tenants but allowed landlords reset rents to market rates when a tenant leaves in changes criticised as being pro-landlord to increase new rental housing.<\/p>\n
Landlords were previously limited to increasing rents by the rate of inflation or 2 per cent, whichever was lower, every year.<\/p>\n
The value of Axa\u2019s rental-sector investment is based on forecasting income it will generate, including likely future rents when leases end. <\/p>\n
The rental rule changes potentially allow the rents in the 3,500 homes to rise by amounts exceeding inflation to match market rents as tenants leave.<\/p>\n
Average prices for new rentals in Dublin stand at between \u20ac2,300 and \u20ac2,800, based on the latest report from property website Daft.<\/p>\n
Avicdale Limited says in its accounts that a further 10 per cent rise in the value of its properties would add an additional \u20ac15 million to its annual profits.<\/p>\n
Axa and Kennedy Wilson declined to comment on the financial performance of the property portfolio.<\/p>\n
The latest accounts said all seven of Avicdale Limited\u2019s shareholders were Axa-controlled entities. <\/p>\n
Last year, Axa sold Axa Investment Managers, which managed Avicdale Limited, to BNP Paribas, the French financial services firm. <\/p>\n
BNP Paribas has now taken over management of the firm, but Axa still owns a stake in the rental portfolio following the sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Ireland\u2019s largest corporate landlords with 3,500 rental properties on its books has partly credited housing shortages…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[11423,46866,267376,72,3662,61,60,83768,3665],"class_list":["post-629860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apartment","tag-axa","tag-axa-investment-managers","tag-business","tag-housing-crisis","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kennedy-wilson","tag-renting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}