Hibernia REIT said that over 99% of commercial rent for the quarter ending March 2022 has been received or is on agreed monthly payment plans, with over 97% received.

In a trading update, it said that 99% of residential rent for the month of January has been received and the occupancy rate in its residential units is 99%.

Over 99% of residential rent in respect of the months of November and December has been received, it added.

Hibernia REIT also said that Dublin office take-up has continued to recover, led by occupiers in the technology and professional services sectors.

One million square feet of office space was leased in the fourth quarter of 2021, with two large lettings accounting for half of this.

It noted that the fourth quarter was the third consecutive quarterly increase in take-up and brought the total for the year to 1.6 million square feet. This is up from 1.5 million square feet in 2020 but still much lower that the 3.3 million square feet in pre-Covid 2019.

The sale of Dockland Central for €152.3m was completed in early October and the company said that no acquisitions have been agreed since the end of September.

In December, Hibernia REIT pre-leased 288,500 square feet in its Harcourt Square office development to KPMG Ireland.

The 20-year lease will see KPMG pay an initial annual rent of €17m and it will receive the equivalent of 40 months rent free through an incentive and enhanced fit-out.

Hibernia REIT in December also received an initial grant of planning for the refurbishment and extension of Hardwicke House and Montague House.

This will allow it to expand the property from 88,000 square feet to about 140,000 square feet of lettable office space.

Kevin Nowlan, Hibernia's chief executive, said that with the pre-let of the majority of Harcourt Square to KPMG, the sale of Dockland Central and the achievement of an A-minus rating in the company's 2021 CDP Climate Change response it is making excellent progress on its key strategic priorities of asset clustering and ESG excellence.

"Ireland's strong economic performance, together with high levels of foreign direct investment, helped occupier activity recover in 2021 and with health restrictions in Ireland now lifted, we are optimistic that the positive momentum in the office market will continue in 2022, absent an adverse change in the direction of the pandemic," the CEO added.