The office sector accounted for 55% of total Irish investment turnover in the first half of this year, thanks to continued strong occupier demand, according to new research from Cushman & Wakefield.

The agency said around €878M worth of office assets traded, compared with €341.7M invested in the sector in H1 2017.

While the Dublin market saw 90% of this spend, Cushman & Wakefield noted the central business district is no longer the sole focus for investors. “Early recovery years saw office investment within Dublin polarised by the CBD; however, the past 18 months have witnessed a more dispersed pattern of investment,” it said.

Office transactions in the secondary and suburban markets within Dublin totalled around €404M during the half.

The biggest deals of the first half included the sale of Heuston South Quarter in Dublin 8 to CK Properties for €175M, and of Dublin Landings in Dublin 1 to Patrizia-owned Triuva for €164M.

Also of note was the sale of the Beckett Building on East Wall in Dublin 3 by Comer Group for €101M. The 188K SF block, occupied by Facebook in 2017 on a 15-year lease, was bought by Seoul-headquartered Kookmin Bank. The deal was the first major acquisition by a Korean investor in the Dublin market.

In terms of letting activity, Cushman & Wakefield said nearly 1.2M SF of office space was taken up between January and June of this year in 115 deals. Although this figure is lower than the same period last year, the agency said 2017 had been “an exceptional year and the number of deals transacting remains very robust”.