Pre-Brexit, Ireland Enjoyed Strong Commercial Investment Activity in Q2

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According to global real estate consultant JLL, €2.3 billion ($2.54b USD) of commercial property has traded in last 3 months in Ireland. Year-to-date total volumes now stand at €2.9 billion ($3.2b USD).

Ireland's Q2, 2016 investment volumes were boosted by 4 large deals greater than €80 million, which accounted for 60% of this total. This included the sale of Blanchardstown Town Centre, which comprised Blanchardstown shopping centre, 2 retail parks and office space. Green Property sold the Centre and it was purchased by Blackstone for €950 million. The other significant sales were One Spencer Dock (Dublin 1 office), which was purchased by a Middle Eastern fund for over €240 million, Project Kells (Dublin office portfolio) purchased by Meyer Bergman and BCP from Aviva for €93 million, and LXV, St Stephens Green (Dublin 2 office), which was purchased by CNP Insurance for €85 million.

Hannah Dwyer, Associate Director and Head of Research at JLL said that "Q2 has exceeded expectations in terms of investment market activity, with a few large transactions boosting totals for the quarter. €2.3 billion of investment deals have traded in the last 3 months, which is more than 3 times the volume that traded in the same quarter last year (€660 million). At the mid-point in the year, this is already close to the year-end figure for 2015 which was €3.4 billion. A notable feature of this volume is that the number of transactions is down but their value is up".

Hannah added, "It is difficult to gauge where investment volumes will end up at this point in the year. Ireland is well-positioned from an occupier and investor perspective to benefit from some of the post-Brexit uncertainty, and we are expecting to see a positive short-term bounce in demand from these sectors. However, we cannot ignore that we are entering a very sensitive period for global markets, and Ireland's close links to the UK is of concern from an economic perspective. It is too early to predict how Brexit will unfold and its longer-term impact on the Irish economy".