There has been a sharp drop in the value of development land transactions in the Republic during the first half of 2017, according to commercial property consultants CBRE Ireland.
A total of 50 development land transactions totalling almost €269 million between them were completed during the period. This compares with €489 million in 53 sales completed in the same period last year, when a number of large transactions occurred.
CBRE Ireland released statistics on Monday in relation to the volume and value of development land sales in the Irish market in the first six months of 2017.
Peter Garrigan from the development land team at CBRE Ireland said most of the sites traded in the first half of the year comprised "relatively small" lot sizes.
“While the number of land sales completed in the first half of 2017 is broadly similar to the number traded in the first six months of 2016, the value of transactions completed in the first six months is down year-on-year,” he said.
“Most of the sites traded in the first half of 2017 have comprised relatively small lot sizes with very little of scale being offered for sale so far this year despite the strength of underlying demand for strategic sites.
“The scarcity of sites of sufficient scale is frustrating considering the number of investors looking to deploy capital in the Irish market at present.”
Mr Garrigan added that the expected a busier period during the second half of the year.
“Considering the number of transactions that are ongoing at the mid-year point and the work that has started on preparing sites for launch in the autumn, a busier second half in terms of transactional activity is anticipated,” he said.
“We expect to see greater focus on the release of larger sites or indeed portfolios to the market during the second half of the year.
“We also expect to see an increase in the number of license deals, joint ventures and forward-funding transactions in this sector over the course of the coming months.”
