Hibernia Reit chief hopes for no change to treatment of real estate trusts         

Chief executive Kevin Nowlan said investment funds shouldn't be competing with first-time buyers but building and renting out apartment blocks was a different matter because many apartment schemes would not get built without their participation

Hibernia Reit generates most of its rent from office multinational clients in Dublin city centre locations. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The boss of Dublin office and residential provider Hibernia Reit said company real estate investment trusts play a key role in property and construction investments globally and he hopes there would be no rush to change legislation in Ireland. 

Chief executive Kevin Nowlan said property company Reits around the world were set up to avoid the danger of double taxation in investing in construction and there there was a misconception that the firms pay no tax.  

All types of property firms, including investment funds and Reits – which get special tax treatment under law in Ireland and elsewhere – have come under the spotlight after a political furore was sparked by the activity of cuckoo funds in buying up housing in residential suburbs that effectively meant they were competing with first-time buyers.  

However, Mr Nowlan said, in his personal view, that although not a common practice, that investment funds shouldn't be competing with first-time buyers in the first place. 

He said funds building and renting out apartment blocks was a different matter because many of the apartment schemes would not get built without their participation. 

The comments came after Hibernia said the value of its offices and residential blocks had fallen by an overall 4.4%, to €1.42bn, during the Covid crisis. 

Hibernia Reit generates most of its rent from office multinational clients in Dublin city centre locations, but it also has more than 10% of its portfolio invested in residential blocks. 

With the rollout of vaccines, Mr Nowlan said activity has picked up and he was confident a large number of workers would be back in their offices from September.