Office take-up in Dublin jumped 20% last year, and a busy 2014 in Ireland is forecast, according to CBRE.
The agent said in its outlook 2014 Ireland report that 2013 was a stepping stone to the next cycle in the Irish commercial property market and that in 2014, strong volumes of activity are anticipated in each sector over the next 12 months.
Last year in Dublin, office take-up increased to 1.8m sq ft, from 1.5m sq ft in 2012.
In the Irish hotels market, 33 properties were sold, generating £132.7m, up from 24 deals totalling £121m in 2012.
Some 75 sales of non-agricultural land were agreed compared to 56 sales in the previous year.
Predictions made by CBRE for 2014 include: a 15% rise in Dublin office rents; an increase in office refurbishment projects; and rental growth expected to re-emerge in the Irish retail market for the first time in more than six years.
The agent also said owing to the establishment of two Irish REITs last year, other Irish REIT vehicles are expected to emerge.
Enda Luddy, managing director at CBRE Ireland said: “2013 marked a major turning point for the Irish economy and in turn, the property market. Transactional activity in all sectors of the market was up year-on-year. 2014 is shaping up to be an even busier year for the Irish commercial property market than last year, fuelled to a large extent by improving domestic economic indicators and by some improvement in the availability of debt funding”.
