CBRE figures show prime office rents in Dublin up 25%

Prime office rents in Dublin are up 25 per cent at more than €530 a sq m, according to figures released by one property agency.

A total of 126 offices were leased in the capital during the first six months of the year, 26 per cent more than during the first half of 2014, property consultants CBRE said at the weekend.

Marie Hunt, its head of research, said that activity in the Dublin office market was continuing at pace. "Prime headline office rents in Dublin city centre have now increased to €538 per sq m, which is up 25 per cent compared to the same period last year," Ms Hunt said. "Rents look set to increase further over the coming months as competition for the best office buildings escalates in the absence of any new stock coming on stream in the short term."

She noted that there were 16 office schemes under construction at the moment, which opened the opportunity for pre-letting space.

Meanwhile, data compiled by a planning agency shows that house building slowed during the first four months of the year. Builders started work on 1,698 new homes in the first four months of 2015, 51 per cent fewer than during the same period last year.

However, the number of planning applications for housing submitted to local authorities rose 18 per cent, to 4,602.

Consultancy Link2plans, which published the figures yesterday, noted that it took 142 weeks from the point at which permission was sought for a housing project for building work to begin. It took 61 weeks to get planning permission for one-off homes.

An artificial boost in house-building activity in the opening months of 2014, the result of new regulations, was responsible for the sharp decline this year, the company said.