Commercial Property

Colm Lauder: Our new columnist on Ireland’s commercial property woes

Goodbody’s former head of real estate equity research warns that the Irish property investment structure is less transparent and no longer aligns with international norms

The country needs a response to its current uncompetitive and overly restrictive post-2019 Reit structure. Picture: PA

More than a decade ago, I penned my last opinion piece for this paper. I outlined how the Irish real estate market, and wider economy, could benefit from the introduction of an accessible, transparent, and efficient Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) structure following the precedent set by other markets.

At the time, the introduction of a Reit structure was seen as critical in the great de-leveraging which was then occurring across the balance sheets of ...