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MARKET RENTS NATIONALLY rose by 4.4% last year and are now 80% higher than a decade ago.
That’s according to the latest Rental Report by Daft.ie.
Rents rose by 4.4% during 2025, compared to an increase of 3.6% during 2024.
Rents have now risen in 13 of the last 14 years, are one third above pre-Covid levels, and 80% higher than ten years ago.
It comes as supply has hit a new low, with fewer than 1,800 homes available to rent nationwide as of 1 February.
This is down 22% compared to the same date in 2025 and is the lowest level of availability for this time of year since the Rental Report series began in 2006.
Daft said the drop in availability is “particularly acute” in Dublin, where the number of homes to rent is down annually by over one third.
The author of the report, Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin Ronan Lyons, remarked that “widespread uncertainty about the new rent controls appears to have exacerbated ongoing supply shortages in the rental market”.
He added: “Unsurprisingly, with extremely tight availability, rents in the open market continue to rise.
“The same is true for room rentals, which have also seen a sharp fall in availability in the last year.
“It remains to be seen whether supply is holding off until new tenancy terms come in on 1 March or whether the change in rent controls has led to a further reduction in the stock of rental homes, as landlords sell up.”
The Residential Tenancies Bill will come into effect for new tenancies created on or after 1 March 2026.
There will be no changes for existing leases on this date but landlords whose properties become vacant will be able to reset rents to market rates from 1 March.
It’s been argued that the changes will lead to higher rents, given that landlords will be able to increase rents to market rates between tenancies or every six years.
Inflation remains very high in the four major cities outside Dublin.
Rents in the final quarter of last year were 11.4% higher in Galway city, 7.5% higher in Cork, up 6.9% in Waterford and up 5% in Limerick.
Outside the cities, the rate of inflation in market rents is a little over 6% in both Leinster and Munster and 5.1% in Connacht-Ulster.
In Dublin, rents are 3% higher than a year ago.
In Dublin City Centre, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Q4 of last year was €2,696.
At the other end of the scale, in Co Monaghan the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment was €1,026, closely followed by Co Donegal on €1,036, and Co Leitrim on €1,077.
The average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment was €2,086.
On 1 February, there were 1,777 homes available for rent nationwide, down 22% on the same date a year ago and down 47% on the 2015-2019 average.
In Dublin, there were 859 homes available to rent, down 29% versus a year ago.
In Leinster, there were 425 home available, down just 3% on last year,
But in Connacht-Ulster, there were just 158 homes to rent, down 27% on a year ago, while in Munster there were 191 homes available for rent, down 20%.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin, said that “spiralling” rents and “plummeting” supply is “a direct consequence of the government’s failed housing plan”.
“From this Sunday, Government is going to allow rip off rents to be hiked even further as the controversial market reset comes into operation for new tenancies,” said Ó Broin in reference to the Residential Tenancies Bill.
“The result of this will be tens of thousands of tenants paying thousands extra in rent each year.
“Allowing large institutional investors to charge ever higher rents for smaller and darker apartments is not a solution to the housing crisis,” said Ó Broin, who also called for a “dramatic increase in the delivery of social and affordable homes”.
Meanwhile, Labour’s housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan remarked that “renters remain trapped in an unaffordable market”.
“Housing Minister James Browne’s rent hike will cause rents to go up by at least 10% because of the market reset mechanism,” said Sheehan.
“These figures lay bare the scale of the rental crisis facing workers, students and families across the country, it is clear that this market is broken.
“Renters cannot wait another year while rents climb higher and targets are quietly missed.
“Government must stop relying on the market to solve a crisis it has failed to manage and instead step in, build at scale and deliver affordable homes that people can actually afford.”
Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with Daft.ie publisher Distilled Media Group.
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