In the first six months of 2013 more than 50 property investment sales with a value of €610 million have been closed .Apparently investors have regained confidence in the Irish property market, which can be clearly seen by the strong interest from foreign buyers, especially from the United States, Germany, the UK, Israel and Australia. Although Irish investors are still the strongest buyers, contributing to 51% of the total turnover, followed by Americans with 27% and European buyers with a share of 13%.
Most of these purchases were focused on office investments, with a share of 48% of the total turnover in the sector. As there are new office developments in progress, it is expected that prices will rise in the near future. Furthermore, there seems to be an increasing interest in apartment sales, especially when there is potential of 100% ownership .
The second quarter showed an increasing demand among Asian investors and in general the first six months of 2013 also showed the growing appeal of risk to the buyers.
And how does the the rest of the year look? According to Domhnaill O’Sullivan of Savills an additional €450 million of property will come on to the market in Q3 which will result in a turnover of over €1 billion for the year, a level which has not been reached since the highs of 2007.