WITH Easter here and the first quarter of the year over, it's useful to review the levels of commercial property activity in the first quarter of the year, which will help form our opinion on how the remainder of the year will turn out.
Significant properties that have been brought to the market in quarter one include the £22 million Longwood retail park in Newtownabbey, a £7.3m property portfolio let to Ladbrokes, and smaller investments including a Burger King investment in Antrim and Pentagon retail park in Ballymena.
Completions in Q1 have included the sale of the 358,000 sq ft Connswater shopping centre and retail park for £16.5m, the sale of the 85,000 sq ft purpose-built office and warehouse building let to Bunzl in Armagh for £9.15m, and the sale of Linen Green shopping village in Moygashel, outside Dungannon, for just over £4m.
Off market transactions have dominated the quarter with the sale of the 180,000 sq ft Boucher retail park to Frasers, the owners of Sports Direct, for an undisclosed price, and the sale by Four Seasons of 29 of their nursing homes in Northern Ireland to Beaumont Homes. The news that the 34,000 sq ft Montgomery House office building in the centre of Belfast has gone under offer is also a boost for the office sector, which is only starting to recover from the difficulties caused by Covid.
Activity in Q1 has been brisk despite the poor economic outlook with inflation running at a 30-year high and bank interest rates set to rise further.
Other good news in the property sector included the announcement that Dobbies, the biggest garden centre operator in the UK, has got the go-ahead from Antrim Borough Council for a new 110,000 sq ft store at the Junction in Antrim. This will be the second Dobbies in Northern Ireland and will be one of its largest in the UK.
In Enniskillen, the Lakelands retail and leisure park, located on the former Unipork factory in the town, is set to proceed after the Department for Infrastructure withdrew its "holding direction" on the project.
Despite the progress on some planning approvals, the Audit Office in Northern Ireland has stated that our Planning System is not fit for purpose and is causing economic damage. They have pointed out that there is lack of accountability, a lack of confidence in the system and that a root and branch review of planning in Northern Ireland is required.
The planning system is only part of the challenges facing Northern Ireland, with the availability of labour causing issues to many businesses. Our official unemployment rate has dropped to 2.5 per cent according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, which is closing in on our lowest ever unemployment rate of 2.3 per cent pre pandemic.
Despite the challenges facing our economy, not least of which is the ongoing war in Ukraine, the commercial property market is active as investors and property owners reposition their assets depending on their views on both the local and macro-economic environment.
Providing there are no further shocks to the economy, the outlook for commercial property is positive and we look forward to continuing activity for the remainder of the year.
:: Declan Flynn is managing director at Belfast commercial property agents Lisney.
