Urbeo on rise in soaring rental property market

Residential investment platform Urbeo Residential has made three key hires as it continues to expand in Ireland’s busy property market.

Urbeo has appointed Richard Ball as a partner, Anthony Sweetman as development director, and Teresa Flattery, as financial controller. The company’s goal is to create a build-to-rent platform of scale in Ireland.

Frank Kenny, founding partner at Urbeo, said: “I am delighted to be welcoming Richard, Anthony and Teresa to Urbeo. We have built a management team with strong investment, capital markets and asset management expertise, complemented by excellent understanding of the dynamics of the Irish market. We are looking forward to announcing significant progress on our acquisition pipeline in the coming weeks.”

Urbeo and also counts the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) amongst its investors. The company is focused on matching investor needs for long-term, stable returns with those of tenants to build stable and sustainable communities of rental housing.

Richard Ball joins from Hibernia REIT plc, where he served as chief investment officer for five years. He will be responsible for Urbeo’s investment and finance functions.

Richard Ball said: “We are well-placed to execute on the many opportunities we see to invest capital in a market segment that is in its infancy in Ireland relative to other developed markets. There is a clear need in the Irish market for increased rental supply and our investments will help to meet this need.”

Anthony Sweetman joins from Rohan Holdings, where he was head of business development. He brings 15 years of industry experience in Ireland and overseas. Anthony qualified as an architect at UCD, and will be responsible for Urbeo’s development functions.

Teresa Flattery was previously the head of finance for Redwood Real Estate. She trained as a chartered accountant with EY.