Nama eager to develop housing site near Belfast

Nama is to invest over €10m in transforming one of its Northern Irish land assets into a housing development, rather than selling the site.

The agency said yesterday the £9m (€10.5m) spend will go towards creating an initial 95 houses and 100 construction jobs at the site at Millmount in Dundonald, near Belfast.

Nama chairman Frank Daly said the move represents “a real statement of intent about our Northern Ireland loan portfolio”.

“In deciding how to get the best possible return from this site, we were faced with a choice,” said Mr Daly. “That was between selling an undeveloped site to the highest bidder and funding the development to create a more valuable asset.

“We are confident that the choice we have made will deliver a better commercial return. This is consistent with our policy, in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, of managing our assets from a long-term perspective and taking account of local market conditions.”

Subsequent phases at the Dundonald site could see an additional 415 properties built. That extra investment would depend on market conditions, future demand, and the success of the initial phase. The site will be developed by the site’s court-appointed administrator, Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon, and a subsidiary of the Lagan construction group, which was selected from 20 interested parties at tender stage.

Nama is also looking at the potential to extend its deferred mortgage payment initiative, currently being piloted in the Republic, to the North and is in discussions with a Northern-based mortgage advisor on the matter.

“We are committed to supporting projects that can deliver a commercial return and I hope that there will be more projects like this in Northern Ireland,” Mr Daly said.

On similar projects in the Republic, Nama remains open-minded to investing where there is demand and in projects that offer it a commercial return.

The lack of available three/four bedroom houses has been raised in the Dublin region and Nama has already committed over €75m to a number of residential developments in south Dublin, as well as another €30m to various other housing developments on a nationwide basis.