Cork accounted for two-thirds of regional office take-up so far this year 

Across regional cities, just over 20,000sq m of office space was taken up

The largest transaction was Cork City Council's purchase of the Counting House, accounting for 6,040sq m.

Cork accounted for two-thirds of the office take-up across regional cities during the first half of the year, as total transaction activity saw a significant slowdown, a new report has found.

In its latest quarterly report into regional office leasing, commercial estate agents Cushman & Wakefield said in total 20,400sq m of regional office space was taken up during the first half of the year, which was “well down” compared to the 44,600sq m taken up during the same period in 2025.

Office space take-up in Cork during this time amounted to 13,400sq m across 11 deals. While this was below the 33,500sq m recorded in the first half of 2025, it was broadly in line with the more moderate levels of activity seen in recent years.

The largest transaction was Cork City Council's purchase of the Counting House, accounting for 6,040sq m, while other notable deals included Motorola Solutions leasing approximately 1,380sq m at Navigation Square One and EY taking about 1,100sq m at City Quarter, Lapps Quay.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, city centre locations are “tightening”, which is having knock-on implications for prime rents regionally, particularly in Cork, where prime rents rose to €455 per square metre during the first half of the year  up from €430 last year.

“Overall, we expect prime office rents in Cork to gradually trend higher given the lack of Grade A space in the city centre and the limited future office pipeline in the market,” Cushman & Wakefield said.

Elsewhere, rents remained stable in Galway and Limerick-Shannon.

Outside the city centre, Cushman & Wakefield said activity was concentrated at Tellengana House on Blackrock Road, where two deals were completed. Other notable transactions included the sale of Building 4600 at Cork Airport Business Park and the HSE's lease of approximately 530sq m at University Technology Park.

Of all office space take-up in Cork, 83% was in the city centre.

Available office space in Cork continued to decline during the second quarter, with the availability rate falling to 9.3% from 10.9% a year earlier. At the end of June, only about 12,700sq m of office space was available in the city centre, equating to an availability rate of just 4.3%, compared with about 13% in the suburbs.

In Galway, the availability rate stood at 7.4% with 5,300sq m taken-up during the first half of the year, which was slightly better than recent years, according to the report. Rent in the county stands at €430 per square metre.

In Limerick-Shannon, the availability rate was higher at 11.9%, with 1,700sq m taken up. The average rent was also €430 per square metre.

Investment activity in offices outside of Dublin improved during this period, with a total of €30.5m.

The most significant deal was the sale of Hawthorne House in Limerick by Fine Grain to Arkea REIM for about €16.3m.

The report added potential further interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank, in response to inflation rising again due to the war in Iran, “may place some additional upward pressure on regional office yields”.