‘Considerable’ Brexit-related queries for Dublin offices

The latest review of the Dublin office market by agents CBRE points to a “considerable volume of Brexit-related queries” as strong third-quarter take-up pushed the Grade A vacancy rate in the Dublin 2 and 4 postal codes down to 2.1 per cent.

CBRE says third-quarter take-up of 82,736sq m (890,562sq ft) put this year’s running total on a par with 2015 levels, but it was also the strongest quarter for take-up since third-quarter 2007 – the peak of the boom.

There were 83 individual office lettings in the last quarter which brought the year’s total to 198 – 18 ahead of the same period in 2015.

Over half (44) of the third-quarter lettings were to Irish companies, with 20 to US firms and five to UK enterprises.

Four lettings during the last quarter were for more than 4,645sq m (50,000sq ft) compared to one in the second quarter, while 21 per cent of take-up in the third quarter occurred in the suburbs.

Tech companies accounted for 33 per cent of office transactions in the third quarter, while a further 8 per cent came from financial services companies

CBRE puts the overall vacancy rate at 7.62 per cent with prime rents at €645 per sq m (€60 per sq ft).

Meanwhile, it says there are 29 office schemes under construction in the city extending to more than 372,000sq m (over 4 million sq ft) between them, while 23 per cent of this stock has already been pre-let.