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LAST UPDATE | 12 Sep 2024
THE AVERAGE RENT nationally for new tenancies grew by 8.1% in the year to March, while the average rent for existing tenancies increased by 5.9%.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) today released its Rent Index for the first quarter of 2024.
The RTB is the public body responsible for providing reliable data on Ireland’s rental sector.
The quarterly index tracks price developments in the rental market and is based on RTB tenancy registration date that is independently analysed by the ESRI.
Figures from the quarterly index inform when an area is designated as a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ).
These are in parts of the country where rents are highest and rising, and where households have the greatest difficulty finding affordable accommodation.
Rents in a RPZ cannot be increased by more than 2% per year.
Carrigaline Local Electoral Area in Cork and the administrative area of Galway County have now recorded four consecutive quarters of new tenancy rent inflation above 7%.
This means both areas now meet the criteria to be designated as an RPZ.
The Irish Property Owners Association (IPOA) said it is “concerned” about the designation of additional RPZs and claimed that RPZs “suppress the market, reduce rental supply, drive illegal sub-letting, and ultimately push costs higher”.
It added that “rent controls, excessive regulations, and restrictive taxes are driving landlords out of the market, worsening the housing crisis”.
The figures published today compare the standardised average rent in Q1 2024 with a similar, but not identical, sample of all tenancies registered in the previous quarter and in Q1 2023.
However, as the properties in the Rent Index sample are different in every quarter, it cannot show if landlords are complying with RPZ rules.
To address this, the RTB has asked the ESRI to conduct an additional ‘Individual Property Level Analysis’ to track changes in rent for the same individual properties over time and this report will be published later this year.
Rents for new tenancies rose by 8.1% between Q1 of 2023 and Q1 of 2024.
This is down from a record high of 11.3% seen in Q2 of 2023, and also down on the 9.1% increase recorded in Q4 of 2023.
The average rent for new tenancies was highest in Dublin at €2,128 per month and lowest in Donegal at €950 per month.
In Dublin the annual increase for new tenancy rents was 6.3%, compared with 12.2% outside of Dublin.
Meanwhile, counties Leitrim and Longford saw the highest growth in rent for new tenancies at 22.6% and 22.5%.
The IPOA said this highlights that “the presence of fewer landlords in rural areas are driving up rents”.
Looking at cities, Dublin City had the highest average rent for new tenancies at €2,084, followed by Galway City at €1,720.
Limerick City recorded the greatest annual increase in rent levels, rising by 18.3% to €1,522.
Rents for existing tenancies grew by 5.9% nationally between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024.
The average rent for existing tenancies was highest in Dublin at €1,829 per month and lowest in Leitrim at €726 per month.
The Greater Dublin Area of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow had the lowest increase in average rents for existing tenancies, up 4.1% from Q1 2023, compared with 5.2% in Dublin and 6.3% outside the Greater Dublin area.
Rosemary Steen, Director of the RTB said the Individual Property Level Analysis gives the RTB “data on landlords who may have breached RPZ rules”.
This analysis uses newly collected annual registrations data to track individual properties over the 2-year period from Q2 2022 to Q1 2024.
“Where there is deliberate and ongoing non-compliance, we will be using our full powers to investigate and sanction non-compliant landlords,” said Steen.
Preliminary findings from this data shows that nationally, 74% of sitting tenants experienced an annual rent increase of 2% or below over this period.
Tenants in non-RPZ areas were more likely to see significant hikes in rent and 16.5% of existing tenants in non-RPZs experienced rent increases of 8% or more.
This is compared with 2.8% of tenants in Dublin and 4.8% in other RPZs over the two-year period.
In Q1 of 2024, rent increased by an average of 1.3% for existing tenancies tracked from year to year in Dublin, by 1.4% in all other RPZs and by 3.5% in non-RPZ areas.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin has called on the RTB “to ramp up enforcement of Rent Pressure Zone rents caps”.
He said this new data “enables the RTB to determine the level of non-compliance with the rent caps in RPZ.
“The RTB need to write to all of these landlords and establish whether the rent increases above 2% were in line with the rent pressure zone rules and where they are in breach of those rules.,” said Ó Brion.
He added: “Given the pressure on renters from the cost-of-living crisis this matter needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
Meanwhile, Labour leader Ivana Bacik remarked that “under this conservative coalition, rents continue to skyrocket”.
“These figures show the stark difficulties and escalating costs facing those who are entering into new rental contracts, and this is exacerbating the homelessness crisis,” said Bacik.
She “urged” the Government to “put the protection of renters at the core of its programme for the remainder of its term”.
“There can be no doubt that those struggling with the unending anxiety of renting in Ireland, and the ongoing fear of eviction, will make their voices heard loud and clear when an election is eventually called,” she added.
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I wonder how much of this could be attributed to the unintended consequence of the green parties introduction of CO2 based motor tax in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of people encouraged to buy diesel cars when petrol would have suited them far better.
@John K: you do understand that these policies were set based on the best available evidence at the time and before the dieselgate scandal? But of course everyone loves being Captain Hindsight to score some troll points.
@Name: and when the evidence changed the gov’t position didn’t. They ignored the empirical & statistical data which IS a major contributing factor to the current situation.
It’s a bit like when the Climate Cult ignore over 1,000 peer reviewed studies that state there is no climate emergency, because it doesn’t advance their cause (a cause that a small group are making hundreds of billions out of). Climate extremeists are Zealots who cannot bear to consider that they have been conned & are useful idiots to make even more money for those few, because it would bring into question their whole existence & the place they take up in this world.
Of course some love being a defender of the indefensible to score some troll points.
@Jim: There is greater than 99% consensus on human-caused climate change in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.
@Name: that’s why I specified “unintended consequence”. I find it interesting that a policy designed to help the environment could have actually damaged air quality and I’d like to know how much could be attributed to that. Would you not like to know that? We should judge policy on the results not on the good intentions used to bring it into effect. Nothing to do with trolling or points as you suggest.
@Jim: wow, the only one showing zealotry is you with an unhinged rant like that.
You “forget” that the greens were no longer in power once the data came out that diesel was more polluting. Once back in power they entirely removed the gap. They also openly expressed regret that they relied on the data from the car industry to introduce the rule in the first place. IMO, that is chapter closed. But clearly not for some who love digging up 16-year old bodies to score troll points.
@John K: fair is fair, but it’s a dead horse that is still being brought to life, mostly for other reasons than you state. A perhaps more useful and interesting question is how Dublin’s air fairs compared to other cities that introduced policies to reduce polluting vehicles and increase modal alternatives. Policies that Dublin still is waiting on.
@John K: The CO2 based motor tax is COMPLETELY unrelated to the switch to diesel cars. That was based on data at the time concerning suspended particulate matter in the air.
@John K: I believe, if I recall correctly, that the promotion of diesel was based on data falsified by the car industry.
This was discovered when testing, of Volkswagen diesel cars, uncovered the car computer would enter a secret low emissions mode when detected it was user test, the so called “defeat device”.
Outside of testing, in the real world, the engine tuned itself for higher performance, resulting in higher emissions. Volkswagen were fined billions over this.
“It’s been dubbed the “diesel dupe”. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found, external that many VW cars being sold in America had a “defeat device” – or software – in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results. The German car giant has since admitted cheating emissions tests in the US.”
@David Jordan: that is correct but the CO2 motor tax made it cheaper for people to own diesel when petrol would have been more suitable for them
@Me Me: it was done to raise money no other reason.
@John K: There wouldn’t be that much pollution if Dublin had a metro network like other European cities, they can afford to impose a congestion or vehicle restriction charge because you can take the train metro and tram everywhere, and periodically. Dublin can’t have the luxury of imposing a congestion or vehicle ban because how will people get there if we stop driving?
@Name: so when they asked farmers to expand in 2009 teagasc and the government thought water quality would improve your so nieve god bless u
@J Ven: agreed on the metro, would love to see additional viable public transport options for the city.
@John K: Like maybe the LUAS on the northside.
@Brendan O’Brien: seriously, how can there be ’99%’ “consensus” when there are (at least) 1,000+ studies that disagree. That is the position a bigot or zealot would adopt.
Yiu.may also want to research your reference material (properly research it & see who is paying for the studies).
Have to laugh, throw out a stats like you did with a bullshit website to ‘back up” your outlamdish claim.
As said, people like you will never admit you are being manipulated because it would mean you are insignificant & your whole world view is a lie which affects the position you take up in this world. Same as you will never admit social distancing, €9 meals, 5km restrictions were all bullshyt – why because it would mean you were duped & your ego won’t allow an admission which would make you look foolish.
@Brendan O’Brien: seriously, how can there be 99% “consensus” when there are (at least) 1,000+ studies that disagree.
Yiu.may also want to research your reference material (properly research it & see who is paying for the studies).
Have to laugh, throw out a stats like you did with a bullshit website to ‘back up” your outlamdish claim.
As said, people like you will never admit you are being manipulated because it would mean you are insignificant & your whole world view is a lie which affects the position you take up in this world. Same as you will never admit social distancing, €9 meals, 5km restrictions were all bullshyt – why because it would mean you were duped & your ego won’t allow an admission which would make you look foolish.
I know some of those black (red) spots. Traffic has gotten worse since the council introduced their signal changes at the junctions, doubling and sometimes tripling the length of ques of idling cars.
@Royce Coolidge: evidence please? I’ve seen this “signal change” argument before. In fact, the council has only made these changes for very few junctions. Where they have, it is often to accommodate flow and accommodate pedestrians (I remember stressed grannies trying to cross before the yellow man ended).
People have short memories and the increase in traffic is more likely linked to an increase in motor vehicles on our roads, esp after COVID.
@Name: @Name: yeah hang on, Cambridge University and I are still getting our results peer tested.
It’s plain for anybody to see with their own two eyes. It’s a great many more junctions than “just a few” as you say. It used to be the case that ebery morning at 08:00 I reach road A that has a que of ten to fifteen cars, queing at junction x. The light turns green and ten cars get through.
Now I reach the same spot at the same time, and the que is twenty five to thirty cars long. The light turns green, for the bus lane only. Then after this the light turns green for cars. The light turns red for cars very quickly again, only three or four cars get through, (not helped by how slow Irish people are to put their phone Dow /get into first and get off the line) and two or three more break the lights, and the light for buses remains green, even though there may be none. The que of idling cars continues to grow.
Ahort memories indeed
Bring on the ultra-low emission zones and congestion charges. I live near one of those hot spots.
@Name: No. Put up with it or move into the wilderness.
@Marvin Dollery: no thanks. I’ve a disability that prevents me from driving. Living in the city means I can actually have a life instead of staring out of the window all day in loneliness. But thank you for your concerns about where I live.
@Marvin Dollery: You’re in favour of dangerous pollutants, no doubt.
@Marvin Dollery: This will really freak you out: five-minute cities!
@Name: I suggest you move then rather than taxing everyone
@Name: I think you just made up your disability to bolster your argument. Disgusting.
@Name: Ban the burning of fossil fuels for heat also.
@Name: you’re full of shyte
Diesel engines are generally the largest contributors to NO2 pollution, particularly heavy-duty diesel vehicles like buses & trucks.
As a motorcyclist, I’ve often received a face-full of dirty black fumes belched from a Dublin Bus exhaust.
Electrification of our bus fleet would do wonders for the city’s pollution.
@Ciarán Harris: and move the problem elsewhere. But Hey Smoke and Mirrors all in the name of sustainable vehicles..
If only google would build more data centres to fix this problem.
Electric vehicles will fix this.
@Ronan Mc: yes and no. They will fix the NO2 pollution. However, their brakes and tires emit quite a bit of particulate matter into the air. Then there is also noise pollution, which EVs will only partially fix. The true fixes are modal alternatives (PT, walking, cycling) and reducing speeds, but these reasonable suggestions have some commenters on this forum frothing at the mouth with rage.
@Name: Dublin Bus have circa 100 double deck EVs on the road at the moment, with more to be rolled out next year. This will make a huge difference!
@Michael O’Callaghan: not saying it won’t. Just saying that EVs of the private motor vehicle kind are not the panacea for a healthy city.
@Name: EV cars hardly ever use their brakes, it’s called regenerative breaking, which also means that there is less ware on the tires when slowing down.
@Ronan Mc: More tax will
Probably by the Dail is the worst ministers and tds arriving in their limos
The who?
@P. V. Aglue: the what?
@P. V. Aglue: the where?
@P. V. Aglue: the why .. !
Why bother suggesting anything. We’re incapable of logical solutions. Ban it sher… offset the problem, cook the numbers like you always do! ya useless shower,
Wow, so the main routes into and through the city have the heaviest levels of pollution from traffic…….and it took a “study” 18 months to “discover” this. Money well spent.
Kildare Street number 1
@Thesaltyurchin: It was 5%, not 50%. Bit of a difference!
@FlipBip: Chat GBT says (from the study) that it’s “50% of kids have 5% reduced lung capacity” so my numbers are off. Apologies.
So, proposed equivalents to the ULEZ silliness from London were floated for over here only last week, and now GOOGLE are running about in their weird cars not only photographing every damned thing, but they’re taking air samples for the government . . . and I’m the weirdo for seeing this as nuts???
have your say