Increase in office space take-up in Dublin in H1 2011

Take-up in Dublin Office Market in first 6 months of 2011 up 66% on same period last year

Article posted: 23 Aug 2011

The Dublin office of CB Richard Ellis Group, recently released their Dublin Office Market View Q2 2011 and revised upwards their estimate of take-up figures for the first half of 2011.

The property consultants said that take-up of office space in Dublin reached 367,576 sq ft in the second quarter of the year bringing take-up for the first six months of 2011 to 899,819 sq ft. This represents an increase of almost 66% on the same period last year, with Q2 take-up in the capital up almost 40% year-on-year.

Major office lettings signed in the last three months include: the letting of 119,554 sq ft at Belfield Office Campus to Paddy Power, 14,240 sq ft at Kingswood Avenue, Citywest to SAP and the letting of 13,799 sq ft at The Arch, Blackrock Business Park to IPOS

The CBRE report states that with no new office development under construction and take-up continuing at a healthy pace, the headline vacancy rate for Dublin offices fell marginally to 22.8% in Q2 2011. Vacancy fell in Dublin 2/4 and the south suburbs as well; vacancy fell slightly to 17.3% in Dublin 2/4 and 14.5% in the south suburbs. CBRE’s research indicates that 72% of Dublin’s vacant stock at the end of Q2 2011 was deemed to be Grade A stock, but almost half (48%) of this Grade A vacant stock is located outside of the city centre and spread throughout the suburban markets. Much of the vacant stock comprises floors in otherwise occupied buildings with few fully vacant office buildings available.

CB Richard Ellis has again revised their rental series downwards. Willie Dowling, Head of Office Agency, said: “Despite falling vacancy and a lack of new office development in recent months, intense competition from tenants led to prime headline rents for Dublin offices coming under renewed pressure in Q2 2011, falling to €323 per square metre from €345 per square metre. This quarterly decline means that prime headline rents in the Irish capital have now fallen 52% from their peak in 2007.”

A full copy of the report is available at: http://www.cbre.ie/portal/pls/portal/CBWEB.utils_news_public.show_image?id=7722&field=doc1&trans=n

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Posted by Sara