Property market low until 2010

IRELAND’S commercial-property market won’t recover until 2010 at the earliest as the economic slump and tight credit conditions deter investors, according to a report by real estate broker CB Richard Ellis Group.

Investment in Irish commercial property fell 74% to €500m in 2008 and may not increase much above that level this year, the Irish unit of CBRE said in a report.

The global credit crisis is making it difficult for investors to finance transactions as banks restrict lending, while commercial property returns are declining.

“As the financial crisis has bled into the real economy, its effects have had an impact on occupier markets,” Patrick Koucheravy, property economist at CB Richard Ellis, said in the report. “Business and consumer confidence is at an all-time low and so the appetite for expansion and relocation going into 2009 is minimal.”