Dublin is facing a shortage of top-tier office space as demand remained strong in the first half of the year against amid “an increasingly limited development pipeline”, broker HWBC Ireland has said.
In a report published on Monday, the property agency said firms took up 1.05 million sq ft (97,500 sq m) of office space between January and June, with a further 1 million sq ft reserved. Full-year office space volume is “on track to exceed 2 million sq ft”, HWBC said, but construction is lagging behind.
HWBC managing director, Iain Sayer warned there is a “growing mismatch between the space occupiers are looking for and what the market is able to deliver.”
Across the market for office spaces, the vacancy rate stands at 16 per cent, but HWBC director for agency and business space, Paul Scannell said “issues of “issues of oversupply for older buildings” are “distorting the overall picture”.
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Mr Scannell said that demand is “solid” for BER A-rated buildings and that leasing volumes remain are strong; “Occupiers are continuing to invest in the kind of space that supports their people and sustainability goals”, he said.
There is a “structural issue” within the market, Mr Scannell warned. “The pace of new development has slowed significantly, and much of what’s currently under construction is already accounted for.”
“Given the timescales involved in office development, there is a potential supply gap looming and unless new projects are brought forward, it will become a real constraint on choice, flexibility, and future growth.”
In the first half of the year, the construction of 350,000 sq ft of offices – 90 per cent of which is pre-committed, the agency said. A further 1.4 million sq ft of offices are currently under construction, two-thirds of which (67 per cent) is reserved. This compares to 1.57 million sq ft which was under construction in the latter half of 2024.
Office space demand in the first half of the year was skewed by Workday taking more than 400,000 sq ft at College Square in Dublin 2. EY secured the second largest space in the first six months of the year, a 150,000 sq ft office at Wilton Park, Wilton Place, also in Dublin 2.
Smaller office spaces taken up by Vodafone, Apple and the HSE rounded out the five largest deals in the period.
Office rents, as of June 2025, for Grade-A properties in the Central Business District stood between €60 and €65 per sq ft, with HWBC expecting this rate to reach €70 per sq ft in 2027.
In the suburbs, this office space was around half as expensive, remaining stable between €28 and €34 per sq ft HWBC said that lower quality office space “continues to come under pressure, both in terms of rent and occupancy”.
