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ONE-IN-FIVE PRIVATE TENANCIES in Dublin are owned by large landlords who can count more than 100 properties in their portfolio, according to a new analysis of Ireland’s rental market.
While the biggest landlords, often largescale property companies, have a sizable presence in the capital’s rental market, it’s a different story for the rest of the country: just 2.5% of tenancies outside Dublin are owned by large landlords.
Nationally, the proportion of registered private tenancies rented by landlords who own 100+ tenancies has been increasing. It’s gone from 9.5% of registered private tenancies last year to 11% this year.
The figures are included in the Residential Tenancies Board’s (RTB) new data released today giving a ‘profile’ of the more than 276,000 tenancies registered with the body. The full report titled ‘Profile of the Register’ is here.
Landlords who have not registered their tenancy with the RTB are not featured in the analysis.
The body maintains a database of the private rental market in Ireland but is also charged with monitoring disputes between landlords and tenants.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin told The Journal that the growth of large portfolio landlords was “particularly concerning”, adding that there is a danger the properties owned by this cohort may be build-to-rent accommodation. These are “pushing prices ever higher” in the rental market, Ó Broin said.
The RTB’s ‘Profile of the Register’ is aiming to provide more accurate and in-depth information than previously available on the Irish rental sector according to the body.
Figures for the size of Ireland’s private rental sector have been in dispute over the past 12 months, due to different estimates by the RTB and the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
It says it has made improvements made to its registration processes, which have helped to remove duplicate and inactive tenancies.
As well as a requirement for landlords to renew tenancies annually they are also verified by their PPSN or Companies Registration Office (CRO) number. An Eircode validation for all tenancy addresses is another change made by the RTB to ensure its data is up-to-date.
However, the RTB concedes that the “system improvements and enhanced validation” methods mean its new data “is not directly comparable” to tenancy figures published for periods prior to Q2 2023.
Tenancies need to be renewed every year with the RTB, a change from previous years when they needed renewal less frequently.
They have increased for every quarter since last year, rising from 213,177 at the end of Q2 2023 to 230,006 at the end of Q1 this year. This represents a 7.9% increase.
For the first time, the RTB has provided a breakdown of tenancies by county, by local authority and local electoral area. It also includes an analysis of the type of dwelling, its size and how large landlords are.
It shows there were 230,006 private tenancies and 46,200 approved housing bodies, such as Clúid or Respond, tenancies registered with the RTB in Q1 of this year.
In Dublin, landlords with 100+ tenancies accounted for 22.5% of all private tenancies registered in Q1 2024.
Landlords who own just one property account for slightly more of the Dublin market at 23.7%. This is also the highest proportion of landlord size types.
Together these contrasting landlord groupings account for almost half the capital’s private rental market.
The next size groupings are significantly lower, with landlords who own either three properties or 6-10 properties both accounting for 10% of the market each.
Landlords who own between 21 and 100+ properties account for a third of the city’s rental market.
Outside Dublin, landlords with 100+ tenancies accounted for 2.56% of such tenancies.
According to a study on Ireland’s large landlords published by the RTB last December, it found there is the focus is “almost exclusively” on Dublin for future investment due to what they see “strength and depth” in the rental market compared to smaller cities.
Typically, the properties are bought new or are developed themselves according to the RTB research. Some of these landlords are companies with in-house property management departments on hand to help with the properties.
This has likely helped lead to the growth in the spread of apartments in Dublin, which the RTB says have grown to dominate in recent years.
At 119,329, the majority of private registered tenancies were in apartments, while 110,667 were in houses.
Two and three-bedroom properties were the most common dwelling sizes.
County breakdowns show the highest number of private tenancies in Q1 2024 were recorded in Dublin (99,630), Cork (25,041), Galway (13,139) and Limerick (8,723).
The lowest numbers of registered tenancies were recorded in Leitrim (1,128), Longford (1,786) and Monaghan (1,827).
The RTB noted in the report that more than one landlord can be associated with more than one tenancy, such as where siblings inherit a property.
Speaking on the release of the new data, Brian Gallwey, research officer with the RTB, said that new and improved data should “provide valuable insights on the changing face” of Ireland’s rental sector for policy makers.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that the Government has been long wanted “homes of all kinds” for people. He said these include “social, affordable, cost rental, private rental and private ownership”, and that it was important to “encourage good landlords” to remain in the rental market.
“That’s why budget 2024 introduced a temporary rental income tax relief to support private landlords, and this built on other amendments made in the previous budget,” O’Brien said.
Dublin Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin praised the research for giving a clearer picture of the range of landlords operating in the rental sector.
The RTB’s figures show the number of registered tenancies increasing from 96,702 early last year to 103,035 this year.
“It shows that the exit of landlords from the market is slower than some commentators previously thought, and is being offset in part by the arrival of new landlords,” Ó Broin said.
“It also shows the growth of both medium and large portfolio landlords, particularly in Dublin. The latter is particularly concerning because much of this build to rent is coming in at the top end of the rental market pushing prices ever higher.
“Ultimately the crisis in the private rental sector is more to do with a lack of supply of social, affordable and private for purchase homes. This is forcing too many people into a private rental sector that does not meet their needs,” Ó Bróin said.
The Dublin Midwest TD said that Sinn Féin’s newly produced alternative housing plan puts greater emphasis on the delivery of social, affordable and private for purchase homes, which he said will result in easing pressure on the private rental sector and “ultimately bring down the cost of renting” for people.
Speaking this afternoon, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said large corporate providers are the “only way” to reach targets for private rental accommodation.
He said: “We have always argued that we need a mix of providers of rental accommodation within our country and particularly within our larger cities.
“Far from seeing corporate investors as a sign of failure, if we want to provide a lot more rental properties and rental homes within our country, we need investors and companies who can do it at scale – and the corporate sector is the only way that that can be done.”
Donohoe said corporate investors and tenants in these areas are also subject to legislation limiting rent increase, adding: “We want to ensure that tenants get a fair deal too.”
Asked if measures introduced by government designed to prevent smaller landlords from leaving the market were misdirected, the minister said the measures brought in were about retention.
“The fact that we are seeing some evidence that small landlords are deciding they still want to stay in the rented sector, for me, is a very positive sign and a sign that some of the measures that we brought in did have an effect.
“We need a diversity of providers of rental accommodation in Ireland. We need small landlords, but we also need larger investors who can provide rental accommodation at scale.”
When specifically pressed on what proportion of rental accommodation he believed should be provided by corporate landlords, Donohoe refused to provide a figure: “I don’t really have a strong view in relation to that. For me, it’s about seeing rental accommodation itself go up.”
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