What is possibly a new benchmark for an office investment was achieved this week when Irish Life accepted slightly over £3.5 million for Hamilton Osborne King's head office at 32 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2. The net yield was 3 per cent but this will rise when the rent is reviewed in 16 months' time.

HOK acquired the block from an institution in 1989 and after refurbishing it, went on to arrange a sale-and-lease-back with Irish Life the following year. The 11,000 sq ft building is rented at £116,000 per annum, the equivalent of £10.50 per sq ft under a 25-year lease. The company also has the use of four car-parking spaces. Palmer McCormack handled the sale.

Another building in the same street, Number 34, has seen its rent rise by a remarkable 61.5 per cent over a five-year period. The Norwegian Embassy had been paying £45,500 for 2,615 sq ft on the ground and first floors of the newly refurbished building - a rent which equated to £15.66 per sq ft and £1,500 for car-parking spaces. An arbitrator has now awarded the landlord £74,000 per annum, which breaks down to £26 per sq ft, and £2,000 each for car-parking spaces. It is still lower than the £32.50 achieved for a recent letting in the same building to Sagitta Asset Management. Stefan Foster of Gunne Commercial acted for the landlord.