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International and homegrown demand for student housing and offices helped push investment volumes to more than €750M for the first quarter of 2022, CBRE’s latest report has said.
The consultant’s investment volume report found a number of schemes had set a benchmark for pricing in Dublin, including the €145M sale of three student blocks in Dublin and Galway.
The deal, known as Project Ruby, saw Ares Capital purchase two properties on Blackhall Place and Cork Street in Dublin, as well as Fairgreen Road in Galway, from Bain Capital. The scheme had approximately 744 beds.
The sale built on the €120M acquisition of two student blocks by Patrizia on behalf of international clients. The 576-bed acquisition was the first investment by Patrizia in the Irish market.
The Purpose Built Student Accommodation, or PBSA, sales along with logistics deals saw investment volumes break the €750M barrier. Deals in the industrial and logistics sector included the completion of the forward funding transaction of the 595K SF Primark Distribution Centre in Newbridge, County Kildare for €128.7M.
Another notable transaction in the quarter was the sale of Point Square in Dublin 1, the mixed-use office and retail scheme traded at a sale price of €85M to a domestic consortium.
“Overall the healthy volume of investment trades in Q1 sees the positive momentum experienced in the Irish investment market through 2021 continue into 2022," said Colin Richardson, CBRE's research team associate director. “The demand for opportunities remains strong, particularly in the current inflationary environment."
Richardson said the sale of the assets of Hibernia REIT to Canadian investor Brookfield would provide an additional boost to investment spend later in the year when this transaction completes, adding “a number of on- and off-market processes that are currently ongoing implies that 2022 will be another healthy year of investment sales as we enter into a new interest rate environment."
While investment volumes have grown, CBRE noted that land sales for 2022 had stayed stubbornly low, with only 14 land sales completed so far totalling €70M, compared to over €600M over the course of 2021. CBRE said the dearth of large land banks offered for sale had contributed to the lack of sale volume.
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