A new trend has emerged in Ireland of hotels being sold as commercial property assets.

New figures compiled by CBRE show that a total of €86 million was spent on Irish hotel investments during 2014.

Of the record €4.58 billion invested in Irish income-producing assets in 2014, less than 6 per cent comprised hotel investments with the majority of hotel properties being sold as trading assets and therefore not included in investment spend numbers.

In addition to hotel investment sales, 63 Irish hotel transactions were completed in 2014, totalling €314.2 million – up 47 per cent in value terms over the 2013 figures and up 52 per cent in terms of sales volumes.

In addition, a further €355 million of Irish hotel transactions (17 properties) were in legals at year end 2014, suggesting that 2015 is set to be another busy year in the sector.

Remarkable turnaround

Paul Collins

, London-based executive director of CBRE Hotels, said ,” he said.

Mr Collins said that as well as the growth in sales volumes there had been a significant rebound in values and this would continue as hotel investments became a mainstream investment class in its own right.