Commercial property on the rise in H1

The first half of the year saw a marked improvement in the Irish commercial property market with more deals recorded in some sectors than in the entire year last year.

That’s according to the latest analysis from consultants CBRE, which found that the weight of money chasing prime real estate in some sectors has also led to an improvement in pricing in the first six months of the year.

It said that there is strong demand for prime Irish real estate, particularly in Dublin, as has been evidenced by the volume of transactions and the pricing achieved for some trophy assets over the first six months of 2013.

Take-up of approximately 70,000m2 was achieved in the Dublin office market during the first six months of 2013 – approximately 25pc higher than the volume of letting activity in this sector in the same period last year. Recent transactions agreed include the letting of 5,267m2 at 1 Waterside, Citywest to Fidelity and the letting of 596m2 at Connaught House in Dublin 4 to Kobo. A letting of 7,883m2 at the Vista Building in Elm Park, Dublin 4 to Novartis has also been reported.

Activity in the industrial sector of the property market is largely dominated by a number of large transactions from a range of corporate occupiers including pharmaceutical companies, research and development companies, data centre operators and medical device manufacturers, CBRE said.

Recent transactions include the sale of 7,277m2 at Clonshaugh Industrial Estate in Clonshaugh, Dublin 17; the letting of 5,008m2 at the former Cahill Printers facility at Clonshaugh Industrial Estate, Dublin 17; the sale of a 929m2 office/industrial building on 0.5 acres at 18 Corrig Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18 for E590,000; the letting of 739m2 at Unit 10, Northern Cross Business Park, Finglas, Dublin 11 and the letting of 504m2 at Unit 39 Northpark, North Road, Finglas, Dublin 11.

The retail property market has see improvement too, despite the poor state of retail sales.

“There is still evidence of some new retail entrants looking for a presence in the Irish market as was evidenced in recent weeks by the US retailer Vans agreeing to open their first Irish store on Grafton Street. However, most transactional activity is emanating from existing retailers who are either relocating or expanding,” it said.