This is almost three times the €162 million invested in the first three months of the year, and activity was spread across many sectors, with sales in the retail, office, healthcare, residential and industrial markets standing out.
The largest transaction was the off-market sale of a large rental apartment development in Malahide, north Dublin, for €70 million.
Colin Richardson, research director at CBRE Ireland, reported an uptick in investor demand for existing private rented apartment investments and student housing, and expects demand to rise further in the second half of the year. Among the properties thought to have had a sale agreed is the Scape student housing scheme on Grafton Street, which Cushman had quoted €80 million for.
“For the second consecutive quarter, the retail sector attracted the most capital in the Irish market, accounting for 30% of quarterly spend,” Richardson added.
With French investors continuing to enjoy relatively high yields of over 7%, Corum AM has purchased Cork's Mahon Point Retail Park at that yield level for around €50 million from Irish fund IPUT. IPUT is believed to have paid €56 million for Mahon Point in 2019 and has benefited from rental income in the interim.
An Irish private investor has purchased two community shopping parks from international investor Davidson Kempner for approximately €41 million.
The quarter's biggest office deal was the HSE's purchase of the Elm Park Green portfolio, near St Vincent's Hospital in south Dublin, from Starwood Capital for around €50 million. The 319,000 sq ft of space will allow for the construction of a new national maternity hospital on the campus.
State Street Global Advisors sold 40 Molesworth Street to Deka Immobilien for just under €40 million in the first true “core” Dublin office sale since 2022. The former European Commission offices include the Specsavers store fronting Dawson Street. These deals helped its office market share rise to nearly 25% in the second quarter.
Richardson said: “The property investment market continues to face challenges with rising capital costs and ongoing price discovery in parts of the market, but liquidity increased in the second quarter due to the ECB's interest rate cut in June, the prospect of further cuts later this year, and a narrowing gap between sellers' and buyers' price expectations.”
“CBRE has several large sales pending completion across a range of segments. Thus, despite the general negative sentiment in parts of the commercial real estate market, the market appears to have bottomed in the first quarter and investor interest and deal activity should continue to improve from here.”