Irish investors take Europe by storm with €4.8bn slice of property market

IRISH investors ploughed €4.8 billion into European properties last year, becoming the third biggest force in cross-border property investment after the Germans and Americans.

Auctioneers CB Richard Ellis Gunne’s latest research into European investment property trends found direct investment markets in the 15 EU countries in 2004 reached a record 103.6bn. This represented a 26% increase on the value of transactions in 2003.

Director of research at CB Richard Ellis Gunne, Marie Hunt, said that in 2004 Irish investors acquired around €4.8bn of property in the EU.