Investment in Irish commercial property deals during the third quarter totalled €1.8bn, bringing the total year-to-date spend to €4.9bn, an annual increase of 40%, CBRE Ireland has found.

The Q3 total is significantly above the quarterly average for transactions in the Irish commercial property market of €1.2bn, but investment volumes this year have been driven by big-ticket deals such as the Hibernia REIT (€1.1bn) portfolio trade in Q2.

The largest transaction during the recently ended third quarter was the sale of the Salesforce Office HQ and the Samuel Hotel in Dublin 1, which were traded as a portfolio to Blackstone for more than €500m.

Other notable deals conducted from July to September include the sale of the Watermarque Building in Dublin 4 and the Eight Building in Dublin 8, but CBRE expects the volume and value of transactions to dwindle during the current quarter due to economic conditions.

"While volumes in the Irish market have been robust in the year-to-date, exceptional one-off sales have driven spend materially higher than in 2021," said Colin Richardson, head of research at CBRE Ireland.

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"The office and residential sectors continue to attract the bulk of investor interest. However, the dynamics of the Irish investment market continue to shift, in-line with global macroeconomic headwinds, which are negatively impacting sentiment.

"With interest rate increases and rising debt costs, we are beginning to see yields come under pressure. This is likely to be reflected in the final quarter of the year."

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