There's been a spike in UK firms ringing up Irish property agents since the Brexit vote

THERE HAS BEEN a big jump in the number of UK companies scoping out a potential move to Ireland in the wake of the Brexit vote.

That is according to a new study from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RCSI), which found that queries to Irish commercial property agents by companies based in the UK rose by almost a third in the most recent quarter of the year.

The Ireland Commercial Property Monitor, which was published by the RCSI in conjunction with the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), polled about 200 Irish commercial property agents.

It was carried out between 16 September and 10 October and found that 29% of respondents had already fielded enquiries from across the Irish Sea.

In addition, almost three-quarters of respondents believed there was likely to be an increase in companies looking to move from the UK over the next two years.

SCSI president Claire Solon said Irish agents expect to see an “encouraging level of capital value growth in most sectors” over the next twelve months.

“The increase in enquiries to agents here from firms looking to relocate from the UK is significant but it’s important to note that agents in Germany and Poland also recorded a similar increase while other countries such as Holland, Spain and France also saw a rise in queries,” she said.

“It’s clear that while Brexit may generate opportunities it will also generate stiff competition from fellow EU members.”

Property in the Dublin docklands

Resurgence

She added that general investment enquiries in Ireland “continued to pick up across all sectors, with the retail segment seeing a resurgence in activity”.

However, she said: “Foreign investment demand only increased fractionally for the second quarter in succession with the indicator softening considerably relative to twelve months ago. So there is an element of uncertainty out there.”

Marie Hunt, head of research at CBRE Ireland, said last month that there has been more interest in office space in Dublin since the Brexit vote amid the highest take up of new commercial leases since 2007.

Vultures

Solon also commented on a new tax set to be introduced that will apply to when property funds send certain types of distributions abroad.

It is expected that the move, which was outlined in the Finance Bill, published last month, will affect many so-called ‘vulture funds’ that bought up large swathes of Irish property during the recession.

In the run up to the publication of the bill, some in the commercial property sector claimed that the tax may put off businesses from investing in Irish commercial property.

However, Solon said: “The detail and scope of this proposed legislation is yet to be fully determined (but) while it will have some impact it is not expected to significantly dampen investment activity.”