Tech firms took on 6,700 workers in Dublin between July and September, enough staff to occupy 22 average-size office blocks, according to estimates from estate agent Savills.

The surge in tech firm hiring made Q3 2018 the strongest ever quarter for jobs growth in the sector, with tech firms also taking up a further 20,000 sq m of office space, or 44% of the total new occupation.

Savills believes 2018 will be a record-breaking year for office take-up, but 2019 will be tighter in terms of new supply. New office completions of 210,000 sq m will be delivered this year, around 5% more space than is likely to be completed in 2019.

Director of research John McCartney said: “Ireland is carrying very strong economic momentum and notwithstanding the known unknowns the outlook remains positive. On average, forecasting institutions predict that the economy should expand by 6.9% and 4.2% in 2018 and 2019 respectively.  This is very strong growth by historical and international standards, which should lead to further jobs growth and absorption of business space.”

The Savills report suggests that demand in the market now stands at 448,000 sq m, suggesting that absorption of office space will remain strong for the foreseeable future. Consequently, vacancy rates are unlikely to rise from the current level of 8.8% over the next 18 months and may even edge lower.

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Based on a four-year cycle, Savills estimates 438,000 sq m of new space will have been delivered since 2014, but adds that, when demolitions are considered net additional space is 188,000 sq m or 5% of the standing stock at the end of 2014 of 3.7 million sq m, which is less than 2% additional stock per annum.

Offices division chief Andrew Cunningham added: “On-site construction activity indicates that completions will be lower in 2019 than 2018, although it will pick up again in 2020. In addition, half of all the office stock currently under development is reserved or let."

The full report is available here.