ERES REIT Outlines Minimal Impact To Business As A Result Of Recent Dutch Government Announcements

TORONTO, Sept. 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:ERE.UN, “ERES” or the “REIT”) announced today that on September 20, 2022, the Dutch government published its 2023 budget, as well as a number of announced changes to tax legislation. Key proposed changes which are relevant for the REIT include the following, all effective January 1, 2023:

• The landlord levy tax, which impacts certain of the REIT’s regulated suites, will be abolished. The abolition, which was previously announced as part of the government’s coalition agreement, will positively result in an improvement in ERES’s long-term net operating income margin.
• The real estate transfer tax (“RETT”) rate will be increased from 8% to 10.4%. Although this will result in an incremental cost on future acquisitions, it will otherwise have no direct impact on the REIT’s business or operations.
• The lower rate applicable to the first bracket of profits subject to corporate income tax (“CIT”) will be increased from 15% to 19%. Furthermore, this lower CIT rate will apply to the first €200,000 in annual profits per taxpayer in 2023, which was decreased from the threshold of €395,000 applicable in 2022. Although this does negatively impact ERES, its estimated effect will be immaterial to the REIT’s operations and financial results.
  

Notably, the Dutch government also announced that effective January 1, 2024, real estate investment trusts in the Netherlands (fiscale beleggingsinstellingen) will no longer be allowed to invest directly in real estate and remain exempt from corporate income tax (instead subject only to dividend withholding tax on mandatory annual distributions, as per the current tax regime rules). As a consequence, profits earned by real estate investment trusts from real estate investments in the Netherlands will become subject to Dutch corporate income tax. Importantly, this will not have an impact on ERES as the REIT’s structure is such that it does not hold any direct interest in real estate, and instead holds all of its investments indirectly through taxable vehicles. In effect, it does not apply to ERES as a real estate investment trust formed in Canada, and impacts only those which are formed in the Netherlands.

Notwithstanding the above, the Dutch government has not released any further announcement on rent control or other potential regulatory developments and legislative proposals affecting the housing market. The Minister of Housing reiterated that it will update the Parliament in the fall of 2022.

About ERES

ERES is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust. ERES’s Units are listed on the TSX under the symbol ERE.UN. ERES is Canada’s only European-focused, multi-residential REIT, with a current initial focus on investing in high-quality, multi-residential real estate properties in the Netherlands. ERES owns a portfolio of 158 multi-residential properties, comprised of 6,900 suites and ancillary retail space located in the Netherlands, and owns one office property in Germany and one office property in Belgium.

ERES’s registered and principal business office is located at 11 Church Street, Suite 401, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1W1.

For more information, please visit our website at www.eresreit.com.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release that do not relate to historical facts constitute forward-looking statements. These statements represent ERES’s intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could result in actual results differing materially from these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are more fully described in regulatory filings that can be obtained on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For further information