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AVERAGE RENTS ARE 43% higher than pre-Covid levels, and rents nationwide have increased for the 15th consecutive quarter.
In its Rental Price Report for the third quarter of 2024, Daft.ie found that the average open-market rent nationwide was €1,955 per month.
The issue of housing has featured heavily in the early parts of the general election campaign, and the author of the Daft report has called on the new government to “give the same priority to the rental sector that has been given to owner-occupiers and to social housing over the last few years”.
“Otherwise, it’s hard to see when conditions will change,” said the report’s author, Ronan Lyons, who is an economist at Trinity College Dublin.
Lyons remarked that “owner-occupied homes and social housing have dominated policymaker attention” but called on the next government to “address the lack of supply of private rental housing early in its term”.
Market rents nationwide increased by 1.7% between the second and third quarter of the year, the 15th consecutive quarterly increase, to leave an average rental figure of €1,955 per month across Ireland.
When compared to the same period last year, rents have increased by 7.2% and by 43% compared to the quarter before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rental inflation in Dublin has also accelerated in recent months, bringing it closer to rates seen elsewhere in the country.
In Dublin, rents in the third quarter were 5.2% higher than the same period last year and twice the rate of inflation seen at the end of 2023, when the figure was 2.6%.
Outside of Dublin, the annual rate of inflation is 8.9%, down from 12.3% at the end of last year.
And after 18 months of improving availability, the number of homes available to rent on the open market is falling again.
On 1 November, there were just over 2,400 homes available to rent across the country, down 14% on the same date a year ago, and a sharp drop from the 2015-2019 average of almost 4,400.
In Dublin, the number of homes available to rent is under 1,370.
In Dublin, average market rents stood at €2,476 in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%,
Rents also continue to rise sharply in Limerick City, where the average rent is now €2,221, up 19.2% on last year.
Cork and Galway cities also saw increases of just over 10%, with average rents standing at €2,189 in Galway city and €2,077 in Cork city.
In Waterford city, rents were up 5.8% when compared to the same period in 2023 to reach a figure of €1,639.
Outside the cities, rents increased 8.3% and now stand at €1,586, while the nationwide average is €1,955.
Meanwhile, the least expensive place to rent is Co Leitrim, where rents are €1,161, though this is a year-on-year increase of 13.5% and a massive 94% higher than pre-Covid levels.
Co Donegal is the second least expensive place to rent, at €1,170 per month, which is a year-on-year increase of 4.3% and up 80% on pre-Covid levels.
On the other end of the scale, south county Dublin is the dearest place to rent at €2,704, a yearly increase of 3.9% and up 28% when compared to pre-Covid.
This is followed closely by south Dublin City, at €2,559 per month, also a yearly increase of 3.9% and up 27% on pre-Covid levels.
The report’s author, Ronan Lyons, said “upward pressure is building once more in Dublin”.
While Lyons acknowledged that it’s difficult to work out the exact number of new homes completed for rent, he said it is “highly correlated with the total number of apartments completed”.
“During 2023, as Dublin experience a significant pipeline of new rental homes, it enjoyed very little inflation in rents, as supply and demand were largely in balance”, said Lyons.
He added that the “peak of the apartment construction boom” was last year, when over 9,000 apartments were built in Dublin.
However, Lyons remarked that the “upswing in construction of rental homes in Dublin is over”.
Lyons said that as of 2020, Dublin was short 90,000 apartments and needed to build around 15,000 apartments per year throughout the current decade.
“The only year it has come close is 2023 – and that is the only year in which rents in Dublin have been close to stable,” said Lyons.
He said the number of apartments completed in Dublin during the first nine months of 2024 is down a quarter on the same period in 2023.
“As the pipeline dries up, conditions in Dublin are likely to mirror those in the rest of the country: a re-emergence of very weak supply in the face of strong demand,” said Lyons.
He cautioned that “owner-occupied homes and social housing have dominated policymaker attention over the last few years”.
Lyons said that the new government will have to “address the lack of supply of private rental housing early in its term, if it is to bring about a change in conditions similar to what Dublin enjoyed in 2023 but across all rental markets.”
The Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan said the report shows that “renters have been abandoned by this Government”.
“The average monthly rent in Ireland is now €1,955,” said O’Callaghan, “that is a staggering €23,460 a year and 91% of the salary of a minimum wage worker.
He added: “Under this Government, renters are expected to work their lives away just to hand the majority of their wages over to their landlord – if they are lucky enough to find a place to live.
“It is not good enough and it does not have to be this way.
“Renters have been left behind for far too long by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. They will not forget this on election day.”
Note: Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with Daft.ie publisher Distilled Media Group.
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As long as government treat home ownership as a business for the wealthy they will never fix the shortage of homes for hard working people, we deserve better than FF/FG.
@087 bed: But it’s all sinn feins fault innit..
@087 bed: yet another fantastic reason to vote for the mighty FG
@Paul M Doe: Duhh…
@Paul Gorry: you shinners are in for a serious bearing at the polls. Karma is a beautiful thing lol
@Paul M Doe: beating
@Paul M Doe: Duhh Duhh..
@Paul M Doe: tosser…
@Paul M Doe: I’m gathering you like permanent Stockholm Syndrome Paul, blame SF when they’ve never ever held government. You are the perfect crystallisation why this country is in the state it is in, unless you’re trolling.
@Marcus Maher – Triskellion Films: look at what they did to that Kip to the north. Look at their record on child protection- horrific
@Paul M Doe: Tosser
@Paul M Doe: what kip? The place with affordable housing? Oh btw, get a job.
@Eoin .h: you can always move there, let me know how you get on
@Paul M Doe: i moved there 3 years ago and bought a detached house
@Eoin .h: great, good riddance lol
This big increase in rents started maybe 8 years ago when the previous government interfered in the rental market and this was continued by the present incumbents. Any such interference always has unintended results. In this case the exit of small landlords to be replaced with multi national suppliers who charge top price.
If the begrudgers think it is such a goldmine being a landlord why don’t they save like mad, give up lattes, dining out,foreign holidays etc. and borrow money and become a landlord. Talk is cheap.
@Jim Connolly: In a nutshell. Well said, Jim.
@Jim Connolly: the usual begrudger think us landlords got everything for free, it’s crazy the delusions of these begrudgers. Massive risks and hard work are alien to them
@Paul M Doe: Fair play to people who work hard to get on the property ladder and become landlords. Not an easy task. But the tax payer should not have to pay the lions share of rents.
@Jim Connolly: NowJim, I’m not sure where you’re getting your figures from but large landlords are concentrated in Dublin, accounting for 1 in 5 (22.55%) of tenancies. Outside of Dublin, large landlords account for just 2.56% of tenancies (RTBs latest figures) So your notion that it’s solely ‘multi national suppliers who charge top price’ doesn’t stack up. Would you have us believe that the smaller landlords aren’t exploiting the property shortage and charging ‘top prices’ themselves ?
@Jim Connolly: It’s not compulsory to become a landlord, nor is it compulsory to stake a bet with a bookmaker. Either way some win and some lose. If it’s getting you down you can get out, simple!!!
@Seosamh Ohuaine: that’s a separate argument, someone has to pay it as we are landlords not a charity
@Brian: valid point but as older landlords exit the market due to being locked into unsustainable low rents and bonkers regulations they are replaced by professionals and midsized landlords bypassing RPZ rules, renting apartments and houses, charging what they like hence the 43% increse in a few years
@Allo Allo: is private landlords are the backbone of the economy :)
@Allo Allo: I don’t disagree that large and mid size landlords are part of the problem.. but I don’t believe that they’re are many older landlords locked into unsustainable low rents.. There are plenty of loopholes to bypass that. I would be of the opinion that most older landlords have their money well made and are cashing out at peak property prices. My main issue with the OP comment was this notion it’s all them multi nationals fault.. as if our own small home grown landlords wouldn’t/don’t take full advantage of the massive shortage of rental accommodation.. and engage in price gouging themselves. Personally, I struggle with the rationale behind banks approving people with a home for a mortgage on a 2nd home,for rental purposes, in the middle of a housing crisis.
@Brian: why do you hate successful people. Effort equals rewards :)
@Jim Connolly: exactly ! Thank you . Theses are the facts and I totally agree
Why should the Tax Payer support renters?
@David Connell: harsh BUT fair!!!
@David Connell: Ask the charlatan Darragh O Brien (ff) why don’t ye?. He’ll tell you his thoughts on said comment.
@David Connell:
Supporting renters is to enable greedy renters, i.e. the corporations mass buying housing to rent at hiked prices…
@David Connell: spoken like a true ” landlord ” .
Thankfully there is huge choice for landlords, don’t know how anyone would allow welfare recipients into your property, far too risky
In RPZs rents can only increase by 2% or less. Outside RPZ wild west..
@David Connell: why should tax payers support other tax payers, there I fixed it for you
@Hayagriva: they are paying for a service, landlords are not a charity they are a business no different to any other business :)
Huge profits are being made in the Rental sector and the construction sector while so many are in crisis to get the bare minimum of a roof over their head
@RIP: anyone can invest in property :)
@RIP: and Tesco , Dunne’s stores , coffee shops ,I could go on …
@Dee Deee: and more power to them, capitalism is wonderful
@Paul M Doe: so the landlord is entitled to make a profit also !
@Paul M Doe: with the cost of rents being higher than monthly mortgage payments, no, we can’t all invest in property when there are zero savings because we pay for someone else to keep their second, third or whatever property. I rent and haven’t any other choice and I’m a tax payer. I work hard to pay all my bills etc but have f-all to show for it. When I die there will be nothing left behind.
The average rent is hitting 2 grand a month …. a disgrace. No wonder there is so much angst across the nation… blaming refugees isn’t the answer … take a close look at who’s been in government , over the past decade, or two . The country is looking at basket case status real soon , unless something changes .
@K H: is government ff and fg not refugees
@K H: Nobody disputes that rents are going up, but looking at information Daft don’t seem to differentiate between new and existing rents, most of the rents are in Cities and they seem to be steady as they would be within RPZ areas with new rents much much higher and obviously skews the average. That’s from me looking at RTB Qtr 1 2024 and Daft Qtr 2 report. There were over 12000 first time tenancies registered in Qtr1 2024 which is probably why rents stabilised a bit
But like everything in this country very little data seem to marry up and bias is rife in all reporting.
Unsustainable! The renters don’t get the money, it’s just a naked transfer of wealth from state to landlords. No wonder an almost impossibly, certainly ridiculously headline rent increase figure is possible. Asset owners are the true beneficiaries.
@Chutes: so should I just give my property to the welfare recipients lol
@Paul M Doe: Look at this Paul fella, sitting up at 4am seething about welfare recipients. Bwahahaha. Loser
@Sean Stevenson: not at all, I just don’t rent to them from bad experiences
Ireland needs a Leader like Donald Trump or Viktor Orban .
Once again we see the power of lobbyists!
You can moan and complain and blame everyone else but at the end of the day it’s supply and demand . There aren’t enough houses . To much red tape nd time wasting around trying to build and no real strides being made on empty hiuses. Also think the fact that tenants that don’t pay rent can’t be evicted for years znd without great cost has caused private landlords to leave the market in droves
@S Os: You forgot dealing with the RTB has to be the worst organisation in the country.
Darragh will fix it.Just give him another 5 years.
It’s climate change. Just ask Brendan.
Awesome to see, upping all my rents in January. I deserve it :)
As long as people vote ff and ffg this wont change they had plenty time in and look state of our economy
Congratulations due to our amazing government.
Limited liability is a fantastic concept for traditional business but it has no place in the residential housing market. Outlaw corporations or corporate structures owning residential housing units except during the development phase or in certain circumstances for low cost staff housing.
@irishsaverandinvestor: While I agree look at the Reits which essentially are what you describe, they don’t seem to be making much money, additionally pension funds are heavily invested in property both commercial and residential. How would your proposal affect those, and yes all pensions would have a property element in their portfolios.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Paul, very fair questions. Property does feature in most investment/pension portfolios usually in small amounts as a diversifier. Property investment vehicles such as REITs will be allowed to invest in almost all property types e.g. retail, office etc. Residential housing however will be off limits. A five year transition phase will exist for these corporations to transfer the ownership (and risk) to their shareholders or sell the properties on the open market to real human beings who need houses. A private individual may of course own and rent multiple houses but without the protection of limited liability this will naturally be discouraged.
@irishsaverandinvestor: I agree that there’s to much corporate/investment in the private sector, however most new builds aren’t financed by regular banks since the crash , companies like Cairns are getting money from international/national investors and this is where things get tricky, those investors will want a yield and it seems that owning swathes of new developments is how that is presently done. Dafts 2nd Qtr report seems to suggest that yields, especially in cities, are barely 2% , I haven’t dug further yet
Forced sales will help availability but might dry up new investment and that’s a risk of fewer builds, and then supply falls etc…
There’s no one way to solve this issue and I doubt it will be solved.
@Paul O’Mahoney: It’s usually not advisable to have individual landlords set up Ltd companies for rentals as the tax burden in very high, and it’s usually much more difficult to sell assets via a Ltd company. I’m no tax expert but advice on sites like Askaboutmoney seem to advise against this type of investment model.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Again, fair points, but as in my initial comment, corporate structures can be used in the development phase. The yield or return on investment will be the profit on the sale of the units. Essentially how most housing was built in the past. You could also try to boost those types of developments with some tax incentives also.
@irishsaverandinvestor: I think the way things were done is gone forever. Housing associations are the closest to state building houses now and their output is tiny, NAMA claims to have built 5000 units again tiny, the costs of building by the Housing Associations seem on par with big builders …….its a feckin mess…..
Sort this one out with your payoffs powers at be jesters.
@Phillip Smyth: translation??? Speakie de eng-lish??
The link on the story doesn’t work, well not my phone anyway, I would like to read it as with the majority of renters in suburban areas and these areas subject to 2% increase on existing rents I fail to understand their figures quoted…..I don’t disagree with them yet but I would like to understand the methodology. Anyone try the link and it actually works?
The root cause of the problems that are placing the burden on the majority of people, stem from the continuing failure to build sufficient social housing.
The argument a lot of people make against building them, is why should someone that has never and will never work get a free house paid for by taxpayers?
But the reality is that not building social housing for that reason, costs taxpayers even more both directly and indirectly, because they are still paying to house those people, but often in expensive privately owned properties.
Doing so also drives the cost of all private rentals and reduces the supply, so taxpayers pay more for their own rental property, which in turn drives up all properties values, pushing buying a house further beyond the means of those very same taxpayers.
On the other hand, the benefits of building sufficient social housing would benefit the majority of taxpayers both directly and indirectly, reducing their own rental costs due to an increase in availability of private rental properties, because local authorities would no longer be renting any of them, reducing property values to a realistic level making them affordable for people that want to buy their own home.
And reintroducing a clear demarcation between private and social housing as two separate markets.
I remember the day rent rose through the roof in Dublin 2006 … the very first apartments that were advertised in grand Canal dock — probably built and owned by American / Canadian pension funds . That was the very day and the very start of rental increase … google , IT .. could pay large rents … the rents spread around the city .. eastwall and everywhere started asking for higher rents and we had our own rent forest spreading fire .. there was a temporary dip in rent after the crash due to lots in immigration from ireland .. but post crash more people come here now .. more people here now ,, more than we expected ever .. so we need houses to rent to people in heath care hospitals etc .. big companies pay hardly any tax in their rental income .. the small landlord – has to pay full tax.
Are the lefties suggesting that running a business should not be about profit lol
Not to worry “Labour promises to build 1 million homes”quoted a few years ago.
@sam o brien: 2015 wasn’t it, the greatest house building project in the history of this state they called it and yet not being called out on it.
The so called support from government is putting rents even higher. LL are increasing rents even they’re not registered and their tenants can’t claim tax relief.
As long as there won’t be more properties for rent, rents will be going up.
Any new Government must reduce rents, our people young or old cannot afford it
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