Ownership of property in Ireland still ‘going overseas’
The sale of portfolios and loans looks set to go above 2014 levels, with €30bn in transactions likely in 2015, says DTZ director, Frank Ryan, who described the change in investor profile as “radically different, over just a few years.”
Last year, there was €4.5bn in pure property investment, €9bn in residential investment activity, and a whopping €17bn in loans sales, he noted.
Tellingly, Mr Ryan said that 80% of that multi-billion-euro activity was in Leinster, just 3% in Munster, 1% in Connaught, a further 3% was ‘unknown’ and 13% was across multiple locations.
Mr Ryan forecast a strong recovery in retail in 2015, stressed the need for “advance” offices on the scale of One Albert Quay, for foreign direct investment, in Cork City, but said industrial and apartment building in the city were non-viable at current prices: even a 50% increase in rents would not make new apartment building stack up in the city or docklands, he stated.
On the residential side, Sherry FitzGerald economist, Marian Finnegan, said the Cork market had lagged a year behind Dublin’s, which had shown signs of price inflation easing in the latter half of 2014.
But Cork could have more price growth in the first half of 2015 than the capital, she suggested.
In Cork, 2.1% of the housing stock was transacted in 2014, and 2% in Limerick, below long-term trends.
Last month, Cork City had 0.9% of its housing stock advertised for sale, while the county had 1.9%, but this low volume (averaging 1.7% across the two areas) is expected to pick up during the year, said Cork SF director, Sheila O’Flynn.
Advertised Limerick stock is 2.2% of supply in the county, and 1.8% in the city.
The impacts of quantitive easing and Central Bank lending rules have yet to be assessed, but the restrictions on lending “have merit in the long-term, but implications in the short-term, “ added Ms Finnegan.
DTZ, 021-4275454
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