Housebuilder Cairn Homes has agreed to sell 150 multi-family private rental sector homes in its Mariavilla development in Maynooth, Co Kildare to Irish residential investment firm Urbeo for €53.5m.

The 150 new homes - comprising apartments, duplexes and houses - are being delivered on a phased basis from December.

The Maynooth development consists of two individual development areas under construction - 230 homes at Lyreen Valley and 150 homes on the Moyglare Road which is being sold to Urbeo.

Urbeo's Richard Ball said the deal is another significant acquisition for the fund as it implements its strategy to deliver quality rental housing projects in well-serviced locations with good connectivity to employment centres.

"We remain ambitious to expand through further acquisitions and forward purchase agreements, and have a deep pipeline of exclusive deals with high quality partners like Cairn," Mr Ball added.

Cairn also today said it had bought 97 acres of development land at Clonburris Strategic Development Zone in Dublin 22, in two separate deals with the National Asset Management Agency and O'Callaghan Properties.

Cairn already owns an adjacent 174 acres of development land within the Clonburris SDZ.

Michael Stanley, co-founder and CEO of Cairn, said the company was excited to take on a project of the scale and opportunity which Clonburris provides, adding that Cairn was creating a new town of significant scale close to Dublin City.

"Cairn is uniquely placed with a strong balance sheet and the expertise to lead a development of this scale in a progressive manner," Mr Stanley said.

"We look forward to partnering with public and private stakeholders to facilitate the delivery of over 5,000 competitively priced and affordable new homes with associated critical infrastructure," he added.

"This development is a game changer for the shortage of affordable new homes in Dublin," the CEO stated.

Earlier this year, Cairn sold 282 apartments for private rental at Citywest in Dublin for €94m to Urbeo.

Cairn said the deal reflected "the breadth and scale of the institutional demand for private rental sector units in Dublin".

The 282 units, across six apartment blocks, are currently under construction and will be delivered in phases from the end of next year.

