The scarcity of industrial property has led firms to settle for any Dublin location

Property specialists CBRE says there has been big jump in demand for warehouses and factories.

By Killian Woods Reporter, Fora

THE FLOW OF industrial property deals in the Irish capital is being compromised by “a scarcity of modern premises”.

That’s according to commercial property firm CBRE Ireland, which also highlighted that demand for industrial property in Dublin has increased significantly.

During the first nine months of this year, take-up of industrial property was down by a fifth, with only 170,000 sq m of property leased or sold across 121 transactions. Last year, there were 136 industrial property transactions signed over same period.

However CBRE noted in its analysis that rent levels reflected the appetite for further industrial site developments around the Irish capital, where supply remains constrained.

CBRE Ireland director of industrial and logistics Jarlath Lynn said demand for this category of property has risen quarter-on-quarter.

He said there was a demand for 117,000 sq m of industrial accommodation at the end of the third quarter of this year, while only 49,000 sq m was let or sold.

Nearly a fifth of clients demanded locations on the Dublin M1 corridor, however more than half of those on the hunt for property would settle for “any Dublin location”.

Almost a third of all transactions in the third quarter of this year were around Dublin’s north-west, on the N3 corridor, while a quarter of industrial accommodation either let or sold was located along the M7 corridor.

image003 Industrial property transactions by area in Q3 2017
Source: CBRE Ireland

Further figures released by CBRE Ireland today showed that over €456 million in commercial property transactions have been processed in Ireland this year.

Some 29 sales of development land were completed during the third quarter of 2017, which brought the total number of land sales in the first nine months of 2017 to 79.

Emerging trend

Earlier this year, property group Savills also highlighted that there is a “restricted” availability of prime industrial space in Dublin.

The firm added that this demand has driven rents up nearly 10% since June last year and there could be an even larger rush for this property category over the next six months.

The rise in demand for industrial and logistics properties this year has been driven by an uptick in activity at Dublin Port, according to Savills.

Dublin Port is on track for its strongest year ever for port traffic, with throughput up nearly 3% in the first six months of 2017.

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