A new report from Savills Ireland on the Dublin office market said that 6,700 new jobs – enough to fill 22 average-sized office block – were created during the year.
Savills also predicts that 2018 will be a record-breaking year for office take-up in the city, but believes 2019 is expected to be a tighter year for new supply.
The office development cycle in Dublin has now been underway for nearly four years and by the end of this year, Savills estimate 438,000 square metres of new space will have been delivered in this time.
However, when demolitions are considered, net additional space is a modest 188,000 square metres or 5% of the standing stock at the end of 2014 of 3,733,000 square metres, which is less than 2% additional stock a year.
While supply will tighten next year, Dr John McCartney, Director of Research at Savills, does not anticipate any let-up in the demand for Dublin office space.
“Ireland is carrying very strong economic momentum and, notwithstanding the known unknowns, the outlook remains positive,” Dr McCartney said.
“On average, forecasting institutions predict that the economy should expand by 6.9% and 4.2% in 2018 and 2019 respectively. This is very strong growth by historical and international standards which should lead to further jobs growth and absorption of business space,” he added.
