Almost €700 million of Irish investment property was sold in the second quarter of 2015 according to Jones Lang LaSalle. Investment volumes have reached €1.7bn for the mid-point in the year after a strong first and second quarter.

This compares to €1.8bn in the first quarter of 2014, which at year-end, was the strongest year ever recorded in investment market history. 
 
The sale of the Cornerstone Portfolio was the largest transaction in the second quarter, this comprised 6 regional shopping centres.
 
Dublin continued to dominate volumes (49%), although there has been an increase in activity outside of the capital. 25% of volumes were in Munster and 24% were in portfolios that spread across the country. 
 
Hannah Dwyer said that “We have seen portfolio sales dominate transaction volumes for the last number of quarters, however in Q2, only 1 of the top 5 deals was a portfolio sale. This quarter, there have been a number of significant individual asset sales, including 3 large office blocks and an individual shopping centre”.  
 
It is positive to see that the momentum we saw in Q1 has continued into Q2 with a strong level of activity.

We expect that this will continue into the final 2 quarters of the year, with a number of large portfolios either currently on the market or in the pre-sale phase. This includes ‘The Sandyford Collection’, a south-suburban office portfolio which JLL are currently jointly marketing with a guide of €20m. 

There is still a lot of stock from banks that we expect to be released onto the market in the next 6 months, plus the recycling of assets by some previous purchasers is also likely. If this continues, and demand remains as strong from domestic and overseas investors, it is likely that total volumes for the year-end could achieve €3.0bn - €3.5bn."

Source: www.businessworld.ie