BLOG Observations on the residential property market in Dublin’s Docklands

A summary of our sales and letting transactions in Dublin’s Docklands during 2015 highlights strong rents, strong demand from investors and strong selling prices across the board. Sale prices, buyer profiles and rents are among the information included in our report Observations on the residential property market in Dublin’s Docklands January 2016

Strong asking prices and strong prices achieved

Our firm’s average asking price for an apartment in the Docklands during the fourth quarter was €379,000. This was very strong compared to Daft.ie figures for residential property in Dublin’s City Centre and Dublin South City where average asking prices were €245,702 and €339,550 respectively. Overall in 2015 our firm realised a consistent 1.4% sale price above asking for our clients’ Dockland apartments; the highest sale price we agreed in the North Docklands area was €730,000 for a two-bedroom penthouse overlooking the river at the Clarion Quay development in the IFSC; the highest sale price we agreed in the South Docklands area was €765,650 for a two-bedroom penthouse in the Hanover Quay complex. While the average per square meter price we achieved during the year for all Docklands apartments was €5,130 (€477 per square foot), the highest per square meter prices realised were €7,314 (€680 per square foot)  and €7,179 (€667 per square foot) for two two-bedroom apartments at Hanover Riverside and The Waterfront – both at Grand Canal Dock.

Cash investors and Irish buyers dominated

We noticed an increase in enquiries from investor buyers seeking strong rental returns as the year went on, and ultimately cash investors accounted for 72% of our buyers overall; we have estimated that the average rental yield in the area was 5.8%. While we dealt with overseas buyers in the Docklands from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Azerbaijan, in the overall analysis, Irish buyers represented 74% of the market during 2015.

Strong – and cosmopolitan – rental market

Our Dockland landlord clients received rents of on average €2,078 per month – more than twice the national average and 64% higher than the Dublin average – according to figures provided by the PRTB (The Private Residential Tenancies Board). The highest Docklands monthly rent agreed by our firm during 2015 was €4,500 – agreed in the cases of two three bedroom apartments in the Grand Canal Dock area – one in the Millennium Tower development and one in The Waterfront. By way of comparison, the average rent achieved by the agency for three-bedroom apartments in the Docklands was €2,900. The top rent achieved for a one-bedroom apartment was €1,500 for an apartment in the Charlotte Quay Dock development in Ringsend. The average rental income for apartments is still consistently higher for South Docklands apartments with the average rent for a North Docks apartment at €1,928 and for a South Docks apartment at €2,108. The high proportion of tenants from overseas, 63% is a reflection of the increasingly cosmopolitan Docklands community; we rented apartments in 2015 to tenants from every continent.

Click the report here Observations on the residential property market in Dublin’s Docklands January 2016

Owen Reilly

January 18th 2016