Dublin office giant upbeat despite stamp duty hike

Hibernia Reit says budget increase would have knocked more than €50m off value of its property portfolio

Kevin Nowlan, chief executive of Hibernia Reit Pic: Feargal Ward

One of the budget measures which attracted most attention – andmost criticism, from the property sector at least– was the hike in stamp duty on commercial property from 2 per cent to 6 per cent.

Property investment group Hibernia Reit became one of the first companies to give concrete figures on the potential effects of the move when it released first-half results this morning.

The company – which is mainly focused on the ...