Paul McNeive: It’s still all about ‘beds and sheds’ in the busy end of the market

The value of housing sites with planning consent in greater Dublin is in the region of €100,000 per unit. Photo: PA

Paul McNeive

I don’t remember a time when property markets were so diversified, with near boom conditions in some sectors and gloom in others. The demand for sites is always a good indicator of future trends and I chatted with development land expert Bobby Lloyd, director of Land/Development Advisory at BNP Paribas Real Estate, about the lie of the land.

The development land markets across Europe were in a “deep freeze” in 2023, Mr Lloyd told me, and we saw a particularly low deal total here of €300m-€350m for land zoned or with planning consent, when one excludes the sale of the Jury’s Hotel site in Dublin 4 to the US Embassy. The big concerns for developers are the higher interest rates, construction cost inflation and delays in the planning system.