DUBLINERS WILL NEED to get used to taller buildings and smaller apartments if those struggling to afford the capital’s high rents are going to keep living in the city, one expert says.

Yesterday Daft.ie released its latest rental report, which showed the average price for accommodation in Dublin was nearly back at its 2007 peak.

And while those price hikes have started tapering off, many renters are being pushed into commuter counties in search of more affordable homes, increasing costs in those regions as well.

TCD economist Ronan Lyons, in an interview with TheJournal.ie, said about 10,000 extra families were moving into Dublin each year – but only about 2,000 new homes were being built.

“The fundamental maths of this all is that we have a growing population and we don’t have a growing housing stock – we haven’t really built any (extra) new homes in the last 8 years,” he said.

Cities aren’t bad

Lyons said the problem in Ireland was people tended to think of living in cities as bad, but it wasn’t sustainable in the long-term for people to be driving an hour in each direction to work in the capital. The solution was to “get more built on the same land”, he said.

• READ: Why hasn’t Dublin become a high-rise city? >

Here’s what else Lyons said about Dubliners getting used to living in different kinds of homes in the future:

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Video by Michelle Hennessy.

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READ: ‘People are basically fleeing the city now’: What sky-high rents are doing to Dublin >