Signs of recovery in Ireland, says CBRE

  Investment levels in the Irish commercial property market totalled €100m (£83m) in the first half of 2010, according to the latest report from CB Richard Ellis.   The figure is almost double that achieved in the whole of 2009.   However, despite this uplift, CBRE said that there was a dearth of prime properties being offered for sale. It added that few new investment properties were likely to be offered for sale until the autumn and that it remained to be seen whether Nama would offload any assets.   CBRE said that yields in Ireland had remained fairly stable in the first six months of the year with the exception of prime high street yields which had recently hardened from 6.5% to 6.25%.   Marie Hunt, director of research at CBRE, said: “Although the decline in property values in the most recent cycle was more severe than ever experienced in any other previous cycle, we have to remember that this is a ‘cycle’ and based on what we are now seeing on the ground in the Irish commercial property market, it is one which we are slowly starting to emerge from.”   CBRE said that prime office rents in Dublin city centre were holding steady at €35 per sq ft.   CBRE managing director Guy Hollis added: “In the same way that international investors are focused on finding prime investment opportunities in Ireland, in the occupier markets, we are seeing demand from a range of international occupiers to locate in the Irish market.”