Today's other stories in brief

Yields up for Belfast investors

Commercial property investors in Belfast, who have had to contend with negative yield gaps in the past, are enjoying new found liquidity due to a series of interest rate cuts by the Bank of England.

In 2007 investors were paying 7.25 per cent for funds in Belfast; now the interest bill for variable rate loans has fallen to as low as 3 per cent. In 2007, investors were getting yields of around 4.7 per cent and in many cases interest payments exceeded annual rental income. At that time the main attraction was the prospect of medium-term rent increases and capital appreciation.

Managing agent Farrelly Mitchell say that falling interest rates and an upward shift in rents mean that Belfast investors now enjoy a positive yield gap where annual rental income exceeds interest costs. “Those investors with public sector tenants on long term leases are most advantaged because they have rock-solid commercial security combined with falling interest rates,” said the agency.

New plan for Navan

A master plan for a new town centre in Navan is to be considered by the planners over the coming months. The plan provides for a mixed-use scheme of 120,770sq m (1.3 million sq ft) off the Trim Road on the edge of the town. CIÉ has designated a site in the middle of the 22-acre town centre zoned lands for a railway station for the proposed railway service to Dublin. Work on the reopening of the railway line from the city to Dunboyne is already under way.

Navan Co-Ownership, owner of the site, has also lodged a planning application for the first phase of the town centre development which will have 21,367sq m (230,000sq ft) of retail facilities. Navan has been one of the fastest growing towns in the country in recent years. The reopening of the railway link with the city is expected to lead to even more substantial growth in the coming years.

40,000 rent for D4 mews

Jones Lang LaSalle is quoting a rent of €40,000, including service charge and insurance, for a vacant mews office building at Raglan Lane in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. The two-storey building was recently renovated and provides 95sq m (1,023sq ft) of office space and 22sq m (237sq ft) of storage in the attic. It has a reception area, a large boardroom and three separate offices, as well as a kitchenette. There is Cat 5 cabling throughout.