Prime Dublin industrial rents expected to continue upwards

RENTS for prime Dublin industrial and logistics properties are expected to continue to increase according to reports from two estate agents Savills and CBRE.

Gavin Butler, director of industrial and logistics at Savills says prime rents for new space have risen to €112.50 per sq m in 2020 with rental growth anticipated to continue into 2021 amid a back drop of little or no availability.

Garrett McClean, executive director at CBRE says take up of space increased 50pc during the third quarter to 71,602 sq m compared to the second quarter and this brought total take-up in the first nine months of the year to 206,111 sq m.

In total, there were 44 individual industrial transactions signed in Dublin in Q3 2020, bringing the total number of transactions in this sector in the year to date to 106, compared to 98 in the same period last year.

As much as 31 were lettings accounting for 70pc of the total volume of take-up during the quarter with the remaining 13 of the 44 transactions or 30pc of take-up signed in the period comprising sales.

“Demand for modern logistics facilities remains robust in this sector with many companies requiring additional warehouse accommodation to hold inventory as a direct result of Brexit-planning or to support increased online retail sales activity in the run-up to what was expected to be a busy Christmas trading period.

Mr Butler says take up in Q3 was 5.5pc above levels in the same period in 2019. However take up has been hampered by an all-time low vacancy rate.