There has been an increase in office leasing transactions in Dublin in the last three-month period, according to property consultants CBRE Ireland.
This follows one of the worst quarters on record in the second quarter of 2020, when less than 10,000 square metres of office leasing transactions were signed in the Dublin market.
However, despite a pick-up in activity quarter-on-quarter, CBRE said take-up was considerably lower than what it normally would be in the third quarter and full year figures for 2020 will be down on the record volumes recorded in the capital in recent years.
According to Alan Moran, Head of Investor Leasing at CBRE, office leasing volumes were up 125% quarter-on-quarter in the capital in the last three months.
"In total, 22,194 square metres of office leasing activity was recorded in the Dublin market during the third quarter of 2020, bringing total take-up in the first nine months of the year to a respectable 131,262m2," he said.
"This is down 32% on the total volume of leasing activity in the same period last year, which is perhaps not surprising considering that many companies have deferred decision-making while they get to grips with Covid-19 restrictions and longer-term implications for their businesses'," he added.
The property consultants say that it is encouraging that at the end of the third quarter there was almost 33,000 square metres of office accommodation reserved in the capital, which will translate into leasing activity over the coming quarters.
The CBRE research shows that there were 29 office leasing transactions signed in Dublin in the third quarter compared with 37 in the same period last year.
This brings the total number of office leasing deals completed in the first three quarters of this year to 75, compared to 136 in the same period last year.
Most of the transactions signed in the last six-month period have been relatively small, according to the research.
18 of the 29 office transactions signed in Dublin during the third quarter were to Irish companies with five to US companies.
However, in terms of the total volume of space leased, 47% of letting activity during that period emanated from US companies with 43% to Irish companies.
The figures show that the overall rate of vacancy rose quarter-on-quarter from 6.65% at the end of the second quarter to 8.64% at the end of the third quarter 2020.
Prime headline quoting rents in the city centre declined by 4% quarter-on-quarter to stand at €673 per square metre at the end of September.
With regard to the debate about the future of the office, Marie Hunt, Executive Director at CBRE said "The consensus view at this juncture is that a blended approach is the most likely scenario longer term with workers opting to work remotely part of the time but still basing themselves for the most part in an office environment - albeit one that is configured differently to allow for appropriate social distancing".
