Real Estate Country Comparative Guide 2018

1. Overview

Stamp duty for commercial property was increased from 2% to 6% last year for Budget 2018 however this does not appear to have had a significant impact on investment in commercial property over the past year and the Irish property market continues to perform very strongly with strong international investor demand allied to Irish REIT and institutional demand underpinning performance.

The 4% stamp duty rebate scheme that was introduced last year in respect of land purchased to develop residential property has encouraged residential development, particularly in the PRS Sector. Approximately €400 million of development land sales were completed in the first half of 2018. Co-living concepts and PRS/Build to Rent schemes are becoming increasingly mainstream, accounting for 25% of investment spend in the first half of the year, with a strong appetite to forward fund/forward commit. A major deal in this sector was Kennedy Wilson's acquisition of 247 apartments