Dublin’s office market has posted a confident set of figures for the first three months of 2022, with 473K SF of office space leased across 37 deals.

The latest JLL Dublin office tracker found that 1.18M SF is currently reserved in the Irish capital, with 23 requirements for space of 50K SF or more currently live in the city. The tracker also stated that volumes leased in Q1 2022 were up a whopping 944% on the same pandemic-afflicted three-month period in 2021.

The average deal was 12.8K SF compared to 12.1K SF in 2021, with JLL stating that the hybrid office model is becoming a core part of the modern workspace. A surge in demand for high-quality space is also anticipated to push prime headline rents to new records of €65-€70 per SF by year-end.

The latest figures also showed a turnaround in attitudes to offices since the market initially emerged from the coronavirus pandemic. Occupiers who were initially expected to downsize are now opting to keep and expand on their existing stock due to shifts in attitudes, JLL said.

The office is now seen as a communal area, primed to be a space for collaboration, and a respite from the work-from-home model.

“It is extremely encouraging to see the ever-increasing signs of recovery and tenant appetite for best-in-class buildings which can satisfy their ESG targets and the health and wellbeing demands of their staff,” JLL Office Agency Team Associate Conor Fitzpatrick said. “With a strong pipeline of high-quality buildings and the demand to occupy them, the Dublin office market looks to be in rude health.”

More than 80% of take-up was in Dublin city centre, with 18% of volumes in the suburbs. Dublin 2 remains the strongest performing submarket with 54% of overall take-up, twice that of Dublin 1 with 27%.

JLL said that technology companies once again dominated the office leasing market. The sector represented 53% of take-up, which is above the 10-year market average of 42% and the sector also represents 35% of all active demand.