Almost €3.5bn in property investments during 2015
Investment property transactions reached almost €3.5 billion as a total in 2015, in Ireland, with nine individual transactions which came in at over €100 million. They included a mix of portfolio sales or large single-asset retail or office sales.
Volumes were reported to be steady during each quarter of the year, but they were boosted by a strong performance in the final quarter when €1.2 billion transacted.
The largest transaction of the year was in the first quarter, however, which was realised through the sale of Project Molly.
The office portfolio, which included Iveagh Court and Marsh House in Dublin 2 and The Watermarque Building in Dublin 4, was sold by Lonestar for €350 million :
“It is positive to see that there has been a continued strong supply of assets coming on to the market and that this has been met by both international and overseas demand. It is hoped that this continues into 2016”, commented Hannah Dwyer, Associate Director and Head of Research at JLL (Jones Lang Lasalle). She also added :
“Supply is likely to slow down from NAMA and banks as they bring their deleveraging activities to a close, although we can probably expect a few more large portfolio sales early this year. We also expect supply to come from recycling of assets by the private equity buyers.”
In the meanwhile, the property website Daft.ie reported that house prices had rose by an average of 8.5% during 2015, with an average asking price for a house in Ireland which now stands at €204,000, up from €188,000 this time last year, and €164,000 at its lowest point in early 2013.
