Ireland’s development land market recorded €197.7m in transactions across 22 deals in the first quarter of 2026. The value rose 55% year-on-year, while deal numbers increased 5%, marking the strongest first-quarter performance since 2019. Dublin City Council accounted for €90m through the purchase of the Camden Yard site near Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, enabling new offices and 299 residential units. The largest deal was a receivership sale. Other major transactions included residential land in Newbridge and Ratoath, a former Royal City of Dublin Hospital site sold by the HSE for €8m, and a car garage site in Milltown bought by Michael O’Flynn. Residential site purchases represented only half of deals, attributed to limited zoned land despite government requests to zone more land.
"Ireland's development land market recorded a strong start to 2026, with €197.7m transacting across 22 deals, according to the latest report from Savills Ireland. This represents a 55pc increase in combined value while the number of deals is up 5pc compared with the same period a year ago and the best first-quarter performance since 2019."
"Dublin City Council accounted for €90m of the first-quarter figure with its purchase of the 3.6-acre Camden Yard site near Saint Patrick's Cathedral in the city centre. The mixed-use site could supply it with new offices extending to 407,300 sq ft as well as 299 residential units. That receivership sale was the largest deal of the quarter."
"Despite the demand for new homes, John Swarbrigg, head of development agency at Savills, said purchases of residential sites accounted for only half of the 22 deals which was below the residential market share of 66pc on average over the last five years. He attributes this slowdown to the lack of available zoned land, although the Government has asked local authorities to zone more land."
"The HSE conducted the fourth-biggest sale with the former Royal City of Dublin Hospital in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, for €8m and this 0.5-acre mixed-use site may be converted to a hotel, apartments or student accommodation, subject to planning permission. Property developer Michael O'Flynn paid €8m for the former Murphy & Gunn car garage in the upmarket area of Milltown, Dublin 6."
#ireland-property-development #development-land-market #dublin-real-estate #residential-land #mixed-use-redevelopment
Read at Irish Independent
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