A new report from CBRE says that Dublin would have enough office stock to cater for any additional demand that Brexit might generate.
According to the data, the Irish capital - the only Eurozone country with English as its first language - has more than 3.7 million m2 of corporate space, 60% of which is located in the city centre. 70% of Dublin's annual leasing activity takes place in the downtown area.
'In total, as of the end of Q3 2016, when buildings that are reserved are excluded, there is almost 285,000 m2 (1.65 times Dublin’s annual average take-up) of office accommodation available to let in the capital, contradicting the view that there is no office stock available to let in Dublin at present,' says the report. 'There is no doubt that this view has been heavily skewed by focus on the Dublin 2/4 district specifically where the vacancy rate of Grade A accommodation is just over 2% or only approximately 31,500m2 at the end of Q3 2016.'
The report notes that the annual, average take up figure of 172,000 m2 was already achieved in the first nine months of 2016, buoyed by several large leasing transactions.
'With the exception of 2009, there has been little evidence of the Irish economic downturn in the city's consistently strong take-up figures and yet no new offices were developed in the Dublin market between 2011 and 2015,' it adds.
2015 marked the beginning of a new development cycle in the city, with 372,637 m2 currently under construction in the city centre across 29 individual schemes of which 22% is currently reserved. According to CBRE, this equates to just over two years supply and will add around 10% to the stock of office accommodation in due course.
Approximately half of all office leasing transactions in the Dublin market each year are to Irish companies with US and UK occupiers also accounting for a large proportion of leasing activity in the capital. The overall rate of vacancy in the Dublin office market is now in the region of 7.6% which, according to the report, 'compares well with other competing cities'.
Also this week, Savills Ireland has published a new report, Skyline Survey, which indicates Dublin is openly challenging post-Brexit London and positioning itself as an alternative business and financial centre, with 136 new office buildings planned over the next five years, enough to accommodate over 100,000 employees.
