Industrial Land: A shortage of good industrial sites and road improvements have boosted the value of industrial land during 2006 by more than 30 per cent. The vacancy rate for industrial property has also declined from 12 per cent to 11.5 per cent.

The demand for industrial investment properties is "at an all time high", according to Hamilton Osborne King's Gavin Butler, who said the result was a fall in prime industrial yields from 5.75 per cent at the beginning of the year to 5 per cent as the summer draws to a close.

Values in the Ballycoolin / Blanchardstown area have risen from about €1.36 million per hectare (€550,000 per acre) to about €1.85 million per hectare (€750,000 per acre). Similarly, industrial land values in south-west Dublin over the same period have seen prices rise from about €2.1 million per hectare (€850,000 per acre) to about €2.7 million per hectare (€1.1 million per acre). Two hectares in Ballymount sold earlier this month for €2.7 million per hectare (€1.1 million per acre), says Butler.

The decline in vacancy has brought the total amount of available space in Dublin down to 385,000sq m (4,144,101sq ft), from about 400,000sq m (4,305,560sq ft) at the beginning of 2006.

Take-up levels continue to increase and stand at about 100,000sq m (1,076,390sq ft) for the first eight months of the year. Almost 70 per cent of this has been in south-west and northwest Dublin. This reflects the dominance of these two regions within the Dublin industrial market, Butler states. The lack of available space in south Dublin is also fuelling demand for industrial land in Wicklow. "The outlook for the industrial market for the remainder of 2006 is for take-up levels to reach 200,000sq m (2,152,780sq ft), which in turn will reduce the vacancy rate to 11 per cent," says Butler. "Capital values are expected to rise by a further 5 per cent with land values rising by over 10 per cent before the end of the year."