NAMA to invest stg£9m in 95-unit housing development in Belfast

The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has today announced plans to provide funding of stg£9 million to build a new 95-unit housing development in Millmount, Dundonald, close to Belfast.

The Agency will provide funding to develop the site through an agreement between the court-appointed administrator and a Northern Ireland-headquartered construction company.

An estimated 100 jobs will be generated during the construction phase of the project, which is expected to last approximately 18 months.  When completed, the first phase will consist of 95 mainly three-bedroom and four-bedroom houses.

The site has outline planning for 510 residential properties, which may be delivered in subsequent phases subject to market conditions and the success of the initial phase.

 Speaking at today’s announcement, NAMA Chairman Frank Daly said:

“This is a real statement of intent about our Northern Ireland loan portfolio.  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.

We are funding this development because it will deliver quality homes for people looking to live and work in Belfast.  It will turn an unused site into a development that will benefit the Agency as well as homebuyers, the city of Belfast and the people who work on building it”.

The site will be developed by Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon, the court-appointed administrator to the site, and a subsidiary of the Northern Ireland-headquartered Lagan Group.

Speaking about the decision to fund the development, Mr Daly said:

“In deciding how to get the best possible return from this site, we were faced with a choice.  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.

We would welcome proposals from our debtors and receivers/administrators in relation to other viable projects in Northern Ireland and continue to encourage parties interested in availing of vendor financing in Northern Ireland to approach us“.