Activity in Ireland’s commercial property market has been severely hit by Covid-19 and the threat of a no-deal Brexit. The latest report from CBRE found that investment totalled €2.4bn in the first nine months of 2020, down 37% on the €3.3bn for the same period last year. 

CBRE said that both the depth and duration of Covid-19 lockdown measures had been “considerably more severe than originally anticipated in March”. 

Marie Hunt, head of research at CBRE Ireland, added: “Although investors continued to seek out opportunities in the Irish market…and we saw some transactional activity occurring regardless, the inability of international investors to travel to the island to inspect properties posed a very real challenge and impacted investment transaction volumes.” 

Hunt said the office market was suffering from huge indecision with many large transactions “put on hold indefinitely”. Total take-up in the Dublin office market reached more than 130,000sqm in the first nine months of 2020, with a further 30,000 reserved. But CBRE said that “even if all of this stock signs by year end, annual office take-up in the capital will be considerably lower than in recent years.”