Dublin, 06 April 2018 - Property consultants, CBRE Ireland, have today released figures for office take-up achieved in the Dublin market in the first three months of 2018, which clearly show that activity continues at pace in the Irish capital following a bumper year in 2017.
The first three months of 2018 have been very busy with a record volume of Q1 take-up being achieved. In total, 83,493 square metres of office leasing transactions were signed in the Dublin market in the first quarter of 2018 - up more than 69% on the volume of take-up recorded in the same quarter in 2017.
60 individual lettings occurred in Dublin in the first three months of the year with 28 of these transactions being to Irish companies. US companies accounted for 16 transactions in the period while there were 7 lettings to UK companies in Q1. 2 of the 60 transactions that completed in the first quarter of the year extended to more than 9,290m2 (100,000 sq. ft.), which provided a welcome boost to take-up. Both of these transactions were pre-lettings. In total, pre-lets accounted for more than 30% of take-up in Q1 2018, which is indicative of the trend for occupiers to pre-commit to buildings which are still under construction in the capital. Interestingly, more than half of all the new stock that has been completed so far this year or is due for completion before year end 2018 has already been committed.
Computers & high-tech tenants accounted for 44% of take-up in Dublin in Q1 having accounted for a phenomenal 54% of take-up in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, business services tenants accounted for 28% of take-up in the first three months of 2018 while the financial services sector accounted for 15% of leasing activity in Dublin in Q1 2018. According to CBRE’s research, the overall rate of vacancy in Dublin fell again in Q1 2018 to 5.9% from 6.08% last quarter. Meanwhile, the Grade A vacancy rate in the Dublin 2/4 district at the end of Q1 2018 was 2.77%.
“Despite evidence of increased appetite for suburban offices, the city centre continues to dominate. In fact, the city centre accounted for 72% or 60,279m2 of office take-up in Dublin in Q1 2018. There were 41 individual lettings signed in Dublin city centre during Q1 of which 29 occurred in the Dublin 2/4 district specifically. 69% of city centre take-up in the three-month period occurred in Dublin 2/4”.
Prime headline rents in the city centre remained stable at €700 per square metre (€65 per sq. ft.) at the end of the first quarter, unchanged from year-end 2017.