JLL: €3 billion of Irish deals traded in the first nine months
Investment activity in Q3 totalled €1.0 billion, which is a slight decrease on Q2 volumes of €1.2 billion but is significantly higher than the €600 million that traded in Q1. In the year-to-date, approx. 44% of volumes were for residential investment and 28% were for offices.
Union Investment’s €197 million purchase of Five Hanover Quay, the Dublin 2 office block, was the largest deal in Q3.
Hannah Dwyer, Director and Head of Research explains:
“Volumes close to €3 billion are encouraging and exceed levels achieved at the same point in 2018. Activity continues to be driven by larger deals, with 15 deals so far this year greater than €50 million, of which 8 were greater than €100 million. This is unprecedented activity, with a new trend emerging for larger-sized deals in the market.
“ Six of the top 10 largest deals were for PRS which has helped to drive activity in the sector. Looking ahead we can expect total investment volumes for the year-end to be over €4.5 billion, and potentially to surpass the current peak (2014) of €4.6 billion. This will be boosted by The Green REIT sale, which will be the largest deal of the year and indeed the largest sale ever in the Irish market and is expected to close in Q4 2019.”
John Moran, CEO and Head of Investment added:
“The market continues to be dominated by overseas purchasers, accounting for approximately 65% of volumes so far this year. They are looking for scale and are showing greatest interest in PRS and office opportunities greater than €50 million that are located in Dublin. Asian investors remain particularly active, as does German capital. Positively we also continue to see new entrants in the market.”
