Dublin among top five cities in world experiencing retail rental growth

Dublin was one of the EMEA cities to experience a higher than average increase in high street retail rents in the year to the end of Q1 2017, up 10.5% in the period, according to CBRE’s half yearly research report Global Prime Retail Rents.

The report is based on the retail rent per square foot that retailers have to pay every year to occupy a shop in a prime location. Europe was the only region to register rental growth in Q1 2017 with an increase of 4.3% year-on-year.

The return of prosperity to the Irish and Spanish economies has led to Dublin and Madrid registering rental growth of 10.5% and 6.4% respectively, in the past year.

"Demand for quality retail space in Dublin remains robust and the arrival of brands such as Victoria’s Secret and & All Other Stories onto Grafton Street has further underlined the importance of these prime shopping destinations," said Bernadine Hogan, Senior Director in CBRE Ireland’s retail team.

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"We expect to see some further upward pressure on Prime Zone A rents on streets such as Grafton Street over the coming months. The retail sector is rapidly evolving and is a highly competitive market, therefore, retail brands must focus on targeting consumers across multiple channels."

Since 2013, there has been close to €442 million of investment transactions on Grafton & Henry Street. The largest proportion of these occurred in 2015 when assets such as Sovereign Portfolio traded. This portfolio was acquired by Irish Life for €154.8 million.

Irish institutions have been the most dominant buyers of prime high street assets acquiring 62% of Grafton & Henry Street assets since 2013.

Meanwhile London’s New Bond Street has taken the top spot for the fastest growing prime retail location in the world. It recorded prime rental growth of 39.1% in Q1 2017, compared to the same period last year.

St.Petersburg ranked second in the top 10 fastest growing retail locations and reported a 15.4% year-on-year growth; this was largely driven by an increase in tourism in the city. Auckland and Sofia were third with 12.5%, Dublin was fifth with 10.5% and Glasgow was sixth with 9.4%.