Statistics on the volume and value of Irish development land sales over the last 15 years have been released by commercial property consultants CBRE today.

The statistics show that while the number of land sales has been appreciating year-on-year since the market crash in 2009, activity in the first quarter of 2015 was low, partly due to the fact that several agreed site sales had not closed by the end of the first quarter and will feature in second quarter statistics instead.
 
However, CBRE say there is a severe scarcity of large residential zoned sites being offered for sale in the Dublin market at present, which is not helping efforts to generate much-needed housing supply.
 
Executive Director at the Development division of CBRE, Wesley Rothwell said, "Only 17 development land transactions totalling less than €72 million closed in the first quarter of 2015 although a number of transactions have since signed which will boost Q2 spend considerably. There continues to be a dearth of residential zoned sites being offered for sale in the Dublin market, with a particular shortage of large lot sizes.  

Demand remains strong with purchasers increasingly considering a range of potential end uses other than offices and residential, including student housing and hotel projects. Without an increase in the volume of land being offered for sale, however, it will prove difficult for developers to find sites to accommodate the volume of development needed to improve supply. 12 of the 17 sites that traded in Q1 2015 extended to less than 10 acres in size."

Source: www.businessworld.ie