Investors plunged up to €760 million into Irish commerical property in the first three months of the year, new reports show.
Jones Lang Lasalle calculates that buyers did €760 million worth of deals in the three months to the end of March, while CBREBain Capital’s sale of three student accommodation blocks in Dublin and Galway to fellow US investor, New York-based Ares Capital, for €145 million, was the single biggest transaction over the period.
According to JLL, residential property, that is apartments and student dwellings, accounted around €377 million of the total, or almost 50 per cent, during the quarter. JLL noted that industrial deals continued on an “upward trajectory” begun last year, accounting for €184 million, or one quarter, of the total.The firm was joint agent with Savill’s on the biggest transaction in that division of the market, a proposed €128 million warehouse pre-let as a distribution centre to Penney’s owner, Primark., chief executive, JLL Ireland, predicted that the supply of new industrial buildings would be unlikely to meet demand.