Nama raises estimate for final return by €300m to €5.5bn ahead of December wind down

Set up in 2009 after Ireland's banking collapse, Nama will wind down in December

Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh and chairman Aidan Williams as the agency published its annual report and financial statements for 2024 on Wednesday. Picture: Fennell Photography

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has increased its estimate for its total return to the State to €5.5bn when it winds down in December - €300m more than earlier estimates. 

Nama published its final annual report on Wednesday morning, confirming €400m has already been paid to the Exchequer during 2024, with a further €800m to be transferred by the end of 2025 to bring its total return to €5.5bn by the time it winds down at the end of the year. 

Nama is also reporting an after-tax profit of €197m for 2024 – its 14th consecutive year of profitability. This compares with a profit of €68m in 2023. During 2024, Nama generated €600m in cash. 

Set up in 2009 following Ireland's banking collapse, Nama has been debt free since redeeming the last of its €31.8bn debt in March 2020.

By the end of March 2025, the loans of 78 debtors remained under Nama management, down from an original 800 debtor connections comprising approximately 5,000 borrowers.

"Every decision, every engagement with a debtor, every transaction – they were framed against a commercial backdrop of maximising the amount that we believed could be recovered for the State," said Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh. "The results we are announcing today and the increase in our surplus demonstrate how effective we have been in doing that."

Between the start of 2014 and the end of 2024, Nama funded or facilitated the delivery of over 42,500 new homes. Of these 42,500 homes, over 14,500 were directly funded by NAMA, with the remainder delivered indirectly on sites for which Nama had funded planning permission, enabling works, legal costs or holding costs before they were sold for completion under new ownership. 

Some 361 new homes were completed in 2024 and Q1 2025 that had been funded by Nama. The agency has delivered around 3,000 homes for social housing.

There is potential to deliver a further 4,000 units on two sites acquired by Nama in North Dublin and Kildare, which will be retained in State ownership after Nama's dissolution.

Nama-linked sites in the Dublin Docklands on 4.2m sq. ft. of commercial space and 2,183 homes have been completed or sold, the agency said.

Nama has used €32bn of debt to rid banks of €74bn worth of risky property loans over the course of its 16-year existence.

"Nama has entered into its final phase in a robust position thanks to the dedication and expertise of its staff and the exceptional progress it has made in recent years," said finance minister Paschal Donohoe. "I have every confidence that Nama will complete its remaining deleveraging activity over the next six months with the same professionalism and commitment it has demonstrated throughout its mandate.”