Record number of hotel sales recorded in first quarter of 2015

Some 25 hotels with a combined value of over half a billion euro have changed hands since the start of the year - the highest quarterly volume of hotel sales on record.

According to commercial property consultants CBRE, there were 17 individual transactions concluded in the first quarter of 2015.

This compares with 64 last year, totalling over €422.5 million, and 33 transactions in 2013 with a combined value of €160 million.

At the nadir of Ireland’s recession in 2009 and 2010, there were only five hotels sold.

The sector has recovered strongly in recent times creating an estimated 30,000 new jobs in the past three years thanks in part to the Government’s special 9 per cent VAT rate.

Paul Collins, executive director at the hotel and licensed division of CBRE, said: "It is phenomenal to consider that as a result of continued deleveraging efforts, the volume of Irish hotel sales concluded in the first three months of 2015 totalled more than €500 million.

"We expect 2015 to be the busiest year on record for hotel transactions in Ireland, " he added.

A number of notable hotel sales are still underway including The Crystal Collection, seven Irish hotel properties with a combined 835 bedrooms, which CBRE is currently selling, suggesting strong transaction volumes will be maintained over the next couple of months.