A total of 97 assets with a value of more than €1 mln traded in the first six months of 2017 in Ireland, according to data from CBRE, a sizeable fall on the last three years.
In total, more than €775 mln of investment transactions were completed in the first half of the year, with a scarcity of product hindering higher deal volumes.
'Like many sectors of the Irish commercial property market, investment spend in the first half of 2017 is down year-on-year with very few sizeable assets having been launched for sale in the first half of the year,' noted Johnny Horgan, executive director at CBRE. 'Indeed, 74 of the 97 transactions signed in H1 2017 extended to less than €10 mln in value.'
According to CBRE, the scarcity of core product to match volumes of underlying demand is continuing to frustrate investors and in turn is seeing some investors move up the risk curve in terms of asset allocations. This is manifesting itself in increased interest in alternative investment options such as Build to Rent and student accommodation as well as increased appetite for forward funding opportunities.
'We expect to see some sizeable assets being launched for sale over the coming months meaning transactional activity will be heavily skewed towards the second half of the year as we had anticipated. However, 2017 turnover will ultimately be dictated by the number of these transactions that sign by year-end with some of them potentially falling into 2018,' concluded Horgan.
