2020 was forecast to be another year of steady growth for Irish tourism, the country’s largest indigenous industry and biggest regional employer. In 2019, a record 10.8 million overseas or out-of-state visitors came to Ireland, while domestic trips surpassed 11.6 million, with combined revenues from both foreign and domestic tourists reaching more than €9.5 billion according to Fáilte Ireland figures.

Industrial & logistics continues to be the star performer with immensely strong occupier and investor demand continuing in Q1 2022. The strength of the occupier market, along with rising build costs and extremely low availability have been driving sharp rental growth in this sector across the country. Large retailers and third-party logistics companies (3PLs) have been particularly active, driven by e-commerce growth, particularly in the context of Brexit-related supply chain issues. This has prompted many retailers who previously would have fulfilled Irish orders from the UK and mainland Europe to look for warehousing and logistics space in Ireland to mitigate against increased delivery costs and delays.

The COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves throughout global communities, dislocated international supply chains, triggered steep selloffs in financial markets and disrupted the real estate sector. Out of all the property sub-sectors, ‘high street retail’ has been the most impacted with vacancy levels rising in every global city centre retailing location.

Operators adapt flex-offices to capture occupier demand post-pandemic