Office take-up in Dublin rose 66% to 83,596 m2 in the first six months of 2011 compared with the year-earlier period, according to CB Richard Ellis’ latest H1 estimate for the market.

The property consultant said that letting activity in the Dublin office market reached 34,149 m2 in the second quarter, up almost 40% year-on-year.

CBRE said that with no new office development under construction and take-up continuing at a healthy pace, the headline vacancy rate for Dublin offices fell marginally to 22.8% in Q2.

Of the 51 office lettings signed in Dublin in Q2 2011, 32 of them were located in the city centre. The city centre accounted for 24,101m2 or 71% of overall take-up in Q2 while the suburban office market accounted for the remaining 4,795m2 or 29% of letting activity in Dublin in the period. There were a number of large lettings but the bulk of transactions in the period comprised relatively small deals.

Willie Dowling, Head of Office Agency, said that despite falling vacancies and a lack of new office development in recent months, intense competition from tenants led to prime headline rents for Dublin offices coming under renewed pressure in Q2 2011, falling to EUR 323 per square metre from EUR 345 per square metre. ‘This quarterly decline means that prime headline rents in the Irish capital have now fallen 52% from their peak in 2007,’ he said.

Major office lettings signed in the last three months include:
* 1,107 m2 at Belfield Office Campus to Paddy Power
* 1,323 m2 at Kingswood Avenue, Citywest to SAP
* 1,282 m2 at The Arch, Blackrock Business Park to IPOS
* 1,069 m2 at The Oval, Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4 to Zynga Games
* 1,044 m2 at Lake Drive, Citywest to Helix Healthcare.