Dublin is facing an invasion of international businesses and retail chains pushing rents to record highs and forcing a fresh wave of office developments. According to the commercial property consultancy, CBRE Ireland, prime office rents in Dublin 2 and 4 districts, which rose by over 25 per cent last year, will continue upward by another 15 per cent. And the price for Grade A office space will be at least €40 [£32] per square foot by the end of 2014.
Both the retail and distribution sectors will see strong growth, with existing retailers expanding and relocating and several new international names entering the market, the company says in its 2014 trends preview. Nor is the momentum likely to be restricted to leading shopping centres and prime high street locations, with secondary streets and provincial locations also set to benefit.
The record number of 2013 deals in the industrial and logistics sector of the Irish capital are also expected to be matched or exceeded this year.
Enda Luddy is managing director of CBRE Ireland. Conceding 2013 was “a major turning point” for the country’s economy, he stressed: “There are several legacy issues still to be tackled and our economy remains susceptible to macro-economic developments. This year is shaping up, however, to be even busier for the Irish commercial property market, fuelled to a large extent by improving domestic economic indicators and by some improvement in the availability of debt funding.”
CBRE also notes that after the launching of two Irish REITs last year, other real estate investment trusts are set to emerge during the next 12 months, although it notes that the Irish market is too small to sustain a large number of REITs.
Overseas investors are also expected to become major players within Ireland’s hotel and leisure industry. A significant number of Dublin city centre hotels are due to go up for sale later this year, together with several provincial luxury hotels.
For the first time in one of its surveys the CBRE has also warned of the changing trends in technology and work habits — such as remote working and so-called hot-desking— are changing the way office and commercial buildings are used.
“It is now vital for owners, occupiers, and investors to keep abreast of emerging trends to preempt how real estate will be planned, designed, developed, occupied, owned, and managed over the coming years and decades,” said Marie Hunt, the CBRE’s executive director and head of research.
Meanwhile a block of five Dublin shops — once part of the Allied Irish Bank’s property portfolio — are on the market for more than £6m. The units are part of Morrison Chambers and cover a total area of 11,500sq ft,
Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, of Jones Lang LaSalle, said it was rare for five adjoining shops to go for sale in an exceptionally busy area of the city, just 100 metres from Grafton Street and directly opposite a busy entrance to Dublin’s Trinity College.
