Hongkongers’ record-high immigration inquiries amid growing unrest prompt Irish developer to set up shop in city
- Dublin offers four options under the Immigrant Investor Programme for those seeking to live and work in Ireland
- Irish developer Bartra Capital sets up shop in Hong Kong following record-high inquiries it received from Hongkongers about the immigration scheme
Ireland’s underserved property segments of nursing homes and social housing have opened up avenues for foreigners to qualify for the country’s fast-track residency scheme, and wealthy Hongkongers are eyeing the investment scheme as the city reels from its worst political crisis.
Dublin offers four options under the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) for those seeking to live and work in Ireland. The first two options are investing in companies that build social housing or nursing homes, which require a minimum €1 million each for at least three years. The other two options are donations of €500,000 to a public project and a €2 million investment in any real estate investment trust listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.
The interest has been substantial enough for Irish developer Bartra Capital to set up shop in Hong Kong following record-high inquiries it received from Hongkongers about the immigration scheme when social unrest in the city started to escalate in July.
“In the last seven to eight weeks, I’d say I’ve met between 80 and 100 clients in Hong Kong,” said James Hartshorn, director of Asia at Bartra. “Prior to that we had signed two to three Hong Kong clients.”
Henry Chin, head of research for Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East at CBRE, said that there is an opportunity for investors to specialise in the development of social and affordable housing considering that affordability is challenging in the Irish market.
“It is estimated that there will be a notable increase in the number of over 65-year-olds in the next decade. The market is already undersupplied in terms of nursing homes and this is only going to get more acute as the population ages. Clearly, investment in health care and nursing homes is a huge opportunity.”
By 2021, the waiting list for nursing homes is likely to hit 10,000, while about 100,000 people are waiting for social housing.
Hartshorn said that Hongkongers have a variety of reasons for considering Ireland as an emigration option – it is an English-speaking country, one of the top places for quality education, and generally welcomes professionals in the finance and medical sectors.
To qualify for residency, Dublin’s other guidelines are that investors should not have been convicted of a crime, and have a minimum net worth of €2 million.
Compared to other residency programmes in Europe, Dublin’s price is steeper than Greece, Cyprus and Portugal, which offer residency visas for property purchases ranging from €250,000 to €350,000.
Since promoting IIP in 2017, Bartra has so far had more than 200 successfully approved clients, with over 70 per cent of them from mainland China.
Hartshorn said Dublin picked nursing homes and social housing as approved investment schemes owing to the huge demand for these.
“The government is quite clever and had to use this programme to channel funds into areas of the economy that need them the most,” Hartshorn said.
For nursing homes, Bartra is offering a five-year term with a 4 per cent annual return, and social housing has a three-year term, but no interest.
The government is quite clever and had to use this programme to channel funds into areas of the economy that need them the most
“You get your resident visa, and you get a safe investment and your money back,” Hartshorn said.
The investor can only make the investment if the application has been approved.
Hannah Dwyer, director and head of research at JLL Ireland said that nursing homes provide a good opportunity for investors.
“The health care sector is performing steadily at the moment and the nursing homes market is particularly active,” she said.
Others, however, noted that Britain’s exit from the European Union will ultimately dampen Ireland’s economic growth and could impact the property market.
Brexit is likely to have more of an impact on smaller Irish cities than Dublin, said Marie Hunt, executive director of research at CBRE Ireland.
