US companies were behind almost 40% of offices bought or leased in Dublin in 2011, new figures have shown.
And on the day that PayPal announced 1,000 new jobs for Dundalk, 52 miles up the M1 motorway, analysts have predicted that the trend of American firms buying here could be set to accelerate in 2012
According to Bloomberg, internet companies including Google and Yelp are looking for additional space in the capital, as are Salesforce.com Inc, Bank of New York Mellon Corp and Citigroup Inc.
Meanwhile, Facebook is seeking to more than double the size of its European headquarters in Dublin.
In a report CBRE praised government initiatives to attract investment and pointed out that US companies leased or bought about nine times more space in Dublin last year than they did in 2007.
“Dublin is a much more cost-competitive destination than it may have been before,” said Robert O’Shea, a partner at legal firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice who advises US companies on moving to Ireland.
That is reflected in the pipeline of projects we would see for 2012 and 2013.”
US companies were involved in 38% of the office purchases or leases in Dublin last year, up from 22.8% in 2007, according to the CBRE data.
Google’s purchase of the 210,000-square-foot (19,500-square-meter) Montevetro building in April alone equaled 81% of all Dublin’s office space bought or leased in 2007.
The absorption of existing prime space means more US companies will probably need offices built for them, which should also provide a boost to the country’s construction industry.
Former US President Bill Clinton recently told a forum of investors that real estate in Ireland was a “steal” and said they’d be “nuts” not to invest here.
Since 2007 Ireland has gone from the fifth most expensive location in the world for office accommodation to 45th.
Read the full Bloomberg report on Ireland attracting US investment here.
