Dublin’s office market is predicted to take a positive turn this year as commercial property agency HWBC says that tenant activity is nearing the bottom of its post-pandemic contraction. In its latest office review and outlook report, HWBC said that 2023 was a “challenging year” for the Dublin office market as total take-up was 1.36 million square feet, down 50 per cent on 2022 levels. New office completions in 2023 added 1.
18 million square feet of space, bringing the overall vacancy rate to 16 per cent. Paul Scannell, head of offices at HWBC, said that despite negative sentiment in the office sector in the past year the market is “at or close to the bottom of its contraction post-pandemic”.With renewed tenant activity in January take-up will be higher this year, with the potential to reach around 2 million square feet and closer to the long-term average for the market,” he said.There is now