As we come to the end of another year, it would appear to be a case of “next year will be better” for those at the coalface of Ireland’s commercial property market. For while a total of €2.5 billion in investment is expected to have been completed by the time we’re through with 2025, the figure pales in comparison to the €7.2 billion peak in 2019 and the respective €5.5 billion and €6 billion figures recorded in 2021 and 2022. Even the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 saw some €3 billion in investment across the various sectors of the market.
Having said that, there are indications that a recovery is under way, notwithstanding the continuing geopolitical and economic uncertainty presented by the often-unpredictable nature of US president Donald Trump’s second term in office, and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
In the case of the former, there can be little doubt that Trump’s arrival in the White House last January and his immediate and aggressive push to redraw America’s trading relationship with the world through the imposition of higher tariffs caused international capital to press the pause button on investment decisions in the early months of this year.
As we near the end of 2025, however, at least some of the transactional activity that might have taken place sooner is set to offer an immediate boost to the first-quarter numbers for 2026. In the industrial sector alone, some €800 million in assets are currently for sale across two portfolios owned by Henderson Park and EQT Real Estate, respectively.
RM Block
In terms of this year’s activity, details of the top 10 deals of 2025 are outlined below.
1: Oaktree retail park portfolio, €220m. Agent: Bannon
US investment giant Realty Income Reit made its most valuable investment to date in the Irish market in March. Having arrived on these shores in 2023 with a €45.9 million deal for CityEast Retail Park in Limerick and Blackwater Retail Park in Navan, Co Meath, Realty made a bold statement this year with a €220 million deal for a portfolio of eight of Ireland’s best-known retail parks. The portfolio, which had been assembled by another US investor, Oaktree Capital Management, between 2015 and 2017, comprises Navan Retail Park, Bray Retail Park, Sligo Retail Park, Waterford Retail Park, Naas Retail Park, Drogheda Retail Park, Gateway Retail Park in Galway, and Parkway Retail Park in Limerick.
US investor pays €220m for retail park portfolio
2: Spencer Place apartments, €177m. Agents: Eastdil & CBRE
Ardstone Capital completed the most valuable residential deal in the Irish market in August when it paid €177 million to acquire Spencer Place, the high-end residential scheme developed by Johnny Ronan‘s Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) in Dublin’s north docklands.
The company acquired the portfolio of 360 apartments from Spencer Place Development Company, which is owned by Ronan Group and the US-headquartered Fortress Investment Group, having seen off competition from several parties.
Another US real-estate investor, Hines, had been in the lead to acquire the Spencer Place scheme before being overtaken by Ardstone. The first round of bidding saw a total of seven parties either bidding or expressing their interest, including Hines, Irish investment manager Carysfort Capital, German investor MEAG, Ares Management and Axa.
Ardstone Capital to pay €177m for Dublin docklands apartments developed by Johnny Ronan firm
3: The Trinity Collection retail park portfolio, €123.5m. Agent: Cushman & Wakefield
Realty Income Reit deepened its involvement in Ireland’s retail market towards the end of June when it paid developer Pat Crean’s Marlet Property Group and its funding partner, M&G, €123.5 million for the Trinity Collection. The portfolio included Belgard Retail Park in Tallaght, Dublin 24; the M1 Retail Park in Drogheda, Co Louth; and Poppyfield Retail Park in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Marlet and M&G had secured ownership of the schemes for their part from US investor Marathon Asset Management for €78 million in 2021.
US investor set to pay €120m for three of Ireland’s leading retail parks
4: Ruby Molly Hotel, €86m. Agent: JLL
In February, German investor Deka Immobilien returned to the Irish acquisition trail, paying €86 million for the newly developed Ruby Molly Hotel in Dublin city centre.
Developed by its seller, the ESR Group, and completed in April 2024, the hotel comprises 272 rooms along with a restaurant and one retail unit, and is located at the junction of Arran Street East and Little Mary Street in Dublin city centre. The hotel is operated by Ruby Hospitality Ireland Ltd, a subsidiary of Munich-based Ruby GmbH.
Deka owns a number of other well-known Dublin hotels, including the Clayton Hotel Burlington Road, the Anantara The Marker at Grand Canal Quay, the Gibson Hotel in the city’s north docklands, and the recently developed Premier Inn at Newmarket Yards in Dublin 8.
German investor in €86m deal for Dublin hotel
5: Birchwood Court apartment portfolio, €79m. Agents: CBRE & Dillon Marshall
Just over four weeks after it had paid €177 million for the 360 apartments at Spencer Place in Dublin’s north docklands, Ardstone Capital returned to the market with a €79 million deal for 180 newly developed apartments at Birchwood Court in Santry, in north Dublin.
Ardstone acquired the portfolio for its Ardstone Residential Income Fund (ARIF). The fund now comprises a portfolio of more than 3,000 residential properties, consisting of a mix of houses and apartments located across Dublin and the greater Dublin area.
Ardstone Capital snaps up 180 Dublin apartments for €79m
6: 20 Kildare Street, €74.5m. Agents: Knight Frank & CBRE
German investor Deka Immobilien completed the most valuable office purchase of the year towards the end of June with a €74.5 million deal for 20 Kildare Street, a prime 65,000sq ft office block located just across the street from Leinster House. Developed behind the restored facade of the original Georgian building at 20 Kildare Street, the property now features a triple-height glazed atrium and meets the highest sustainability credentials, including Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) compliance. Number 20 is fully occupied by a range of tenants that includes Aircastle, Ara Partners, Consello, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Dentons, Egon Zehnder and Lanthorn, and is generating a rent roll of about €4 million a year.
Kennedy Wilson seeking €145m for prime Dublin office investment
7: Ten Hanover Quay, €69m. Agents: CBRE & Savills
Pontegadea, the family firm of Zara founder Amancio Ortega, paid €69 million in June for Ten Hanover Quay, a prime office building.
The sale of the property, which forms part of the wider Capital Dock scheme in Dublin’s south docklands, came just three years after the US group and its joint venture partner on the scheme, Nama, secured global fintech and payments provider Fiserv as tenants for all 68,300 sq ft of its accommodation. Pontegadea’s other Irish investments include the second phase of Dublin’s Baldonnell Business Park, for which it paid €225 million in 2023, and 120 rental apartments at Opus at Six Hanover Quay in Dublin’s south docklands, which it acquired for €100 million in 2022.
Zara founder snaps up last Dublin docklands project linked to Nama
8: Park West Business Park portfolio, €65m. Agent: TWM
International alternative asset manager ICG took ownership of a significant portion of Dublin’s Park West Business Park in late September, paying about €65 million to developer Pat Doherty’s Harcourt Developments in an off-market deal for a large portfolio of industrial assets at the scheme. The units included in the deal comprised a total area of 445,000sq ft, distributed across several blocks. The majority of the accommodation purchased by ICG was developed originally by Harcourt on the site of the former Semperit tyre manufacturing plant, which it acquired for £16 million from the then Jefferson Smurfit Group in 1999.
International investor in €62.5m deal for Park West industrial portfolio
9: 24-26 City Quay, Dublin docklands €55m. Agent: Savills
The third quarter saw French investor Corum paying Irish Life Investment Managers €55 million for 24-26 City Quay, a grade-A office building in Dublin’s south docklands.
The building, which underwent an extensive refurbishment in 2020 to bring it up to modern environmental, social, and governance standards, is let to a range of blue-chip tenants including Morgan Stanley, Coca-Cola, Fisher Investments, and US Bank Global Fund Services, and is generating annual rental income of €4.91 million.
10: 2 Dublin Landings, €50m. Agent: Savills
Having sold for €106.5 million in 2018, No 2 Dublin Landings was sold again just last month for €50 million.
The amount paid by German investor MEAG, was €10 million less than the €60 million which had been sought by agent Savills when it brought the property to the market on behalf of receivers Deloitte at the end of last October. MEAG’s intention to acquire the building was first reported by The Irish Times in February.
The sale price fell someway short of the €60 million-plus loan the German bank Helaba extended to the building’s outgoing owners, South Korean real estate investment trust JR AMC and Hana Financial Investment, when they acquired the property in November 2018 through German investor KanAm Grund.
Helaba engaged Deloitte as receiver to recover the money owed to it in February of last year. The €50 million figure pales even further when compared with the €140 million valuation mooted when JR AMC and Hana weighed the sale of the property in 2022.
[ German investor pays €50m for Dublin docklands office blockOpens in new window ]
Three significant sales not counted as investment as they were acquired by the end-user
Citywest Hotel, €148m
Having served as a State Covid-19 testing and vaccination centre between 2020 and 2022, and as an accommodation and processing facility for asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees after that, the 764-bed Citywest Hotel finally entered into full State ownership this year. Developed originally as a hotel and conference centre by the late Jim Mansfield, the Citywest Hotel made the permanent transition to State accommodation facility towards the end of June with Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan’s confirmation that he had received approval from his Cabinet colleagues to acquire the property for €148 million.
Radisson Dublin Airport Hotel, €83m
Having first indicated its intention to acquire the Radisson Dublin Airport Hotel in November 2024, the Dalata Hotel Group secured approval for the €83 million deal from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in June of this year.
Located near Dublin Airport’s second terminal, the four-star hotel comprises 229 bedrooms, meeting and event facilities and on-site parking. It was refurbished in 2019, and has two significant planning approvals that are expected to bring development opportunities in the future.
The Grand Hotel, Malahide, €55m
FBD Hotels & Resorts acquired the Grand Hotel for €55 million from its longstanding owners, the Ryan family, in March.
FBD’s hotel portfolio also comprises the Heritage Hotel and Spa in Laois, the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin, the Faithlegg Hotel in Waterford and the Killashee Hotel and Spa in Kildare. It also controls the Sunset Beach Club and La Cala Resort in Spain’s Costa del Sol.
