Some 45 hotel property sales, totalling almost €280 mln, have been completed in the Irish market in the first nine months of 2014, according to the latest analysis from property advisor CBRE.

Some 45 hotel property sales, totalling almost €280 mln, have been completed in the Irish market in the first nine months of 2014, according to the latest analysis from property advisor CBRE.

This compares with a total of 33 hotel sales completed in the country in the entire year in 2013, demonstrating the extent to which the volume of hotel sales and demand for hotel properties has escalated during 2014.

According to CBRE Research, an array of private investors and hotel operators have been active in the market over the first nine months of the year and with the sale of several hotel properties and two hotel portfolios currently in negotiations and expected to close by year-end, a very busy Q4 is in prospect. This will undoubtedly be fuelled by the imminent ending of the Capital Gains Tax(CGT) waiver which is due to be phased out in the forthcoming Budget and which boosted transaction volumes in this sector over the last number of years.

Lisa Keogh, a surveyor in the Hotels & Licensed team at CBRE 'This is a remarkable turnaround for the hotel sector when you consider that there are more hotel properties being traded in Ireland now than at the peak of the market in 2006. There were only 2 hotels sold in the entire country in 2009 and only 3 the following year in 2010 so this marks a very significant turnaround.'