Unsurprisingly, the Q1 2021 take-up figure of just 39,000 sq ft is one of the lowest on record and reflective of the Level 5 restrictions
• Q1 2021 take-up figure of just 39,000 sq ft is one of the lowest on record and reflective of the Level 5 restrictions (highest level) Dublin has endured since the beginning of the year. All construction remained closed and most scheduled property tours were postponed which halted progression of office deals.
• Of the 13 deals concluded, just one was in excess of 10,000 sq ft (MD7 at Scotch House). The remaining ranged in size from 1,000 to 4,500 sq ft. 70% of the take-up was in the city centre and 30% in the suburbs.
• It is not all bad news however. There has been a noticeable increase in demand for space this year and a number of sizeable deals are now “reserved” heading into Q2. This figure currently stands at 537,000 sq ft which is up from 300,000 sq ft at the end of 2020. There is broad consensus that activity will ramp up in the second half of the year as the vaccine rollout takes effect and employees return to the office.
• The overall vacancy rate has moved slightly quarter on quarter from 10%to 10.5% overall and in the city centre from 8.5% to 9.5%.
• With construction closed, there has been no change to the pipeline delivery where 45% of the stock under construction is already pre-let.
• There has been no real change to quoting rents in any of the Dublin sub-markets with Landlords hopeful a return to some sort of normality will reignite the market.
• As anticipated, the flight to Greener Buildings is becoming a key consideration in the decision process of multi-nationals.
• It is encouraging to see Dublin reportedly emerging as the favoured destination for firms moving jobs from the UK into EU after Brexit. 135 firms have now relocated business here compared to 102 (Paris), 95(Luxembourg), 63 (Frankfurt) & 48 (Amsterdam).
