Marie Hunt, Executive Director of CBRE Ireland Company conducts a research of Irish commercial property market and gives forecasts for its development.
The executive director of CBRE Ireland Company said that there will be a notable increase in the volume of transactions in the investment, hotels and development land sectors of the Irish market as banks, receivers and NAMA release more properties to the market. At the prime end of the investment and hotel sectors, overseas investors are likely to be the most dominant players.
Marie Hunt noticed very strong international appetite for the prime Dublin hotels that sold during the year, including the Four Seasons. There was a noticeable improvement in tourist activity, particularly in the Dublin market last year. A further boost in tourist numbers is expected in 2012 and encouragingly, there are a lot of forward bookings. CBRE have forecast that occupancy rates will increase by 2,8% in Dublin this year.
In addition expert said that there will be an increase in the sale of residential investment portfolios over the course of the next 12 months - a new trend for the Irish market.