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THE LATEST RENT Index Report shows that rents for new tenancies are almost 18% higher than for existing tenancies.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) today launched its Report for Quarter 3 of last year, covering July to September 2023.
It found that the national standardised average rent for existing tenancies of at least one year in duration was €1,357 per month.
This figure is €240 or 17.7% higher per month for new tenancies, with national standardised average rents of €1,598 per month.
Rents in new tenancies are also €158 higher when compared to Quarter 3 of 2022 (€1,440), an 11% increase.
This rate of increase is more than double the rate observed for existing tenancies, which grew by 5.2% in the year to Quarter 3 of 2023.
Close to 47,000 (46,854) existing tenancies were renewed in Q3 of last year.
Existing rents were highest in Dublin, with average rents of €1,788 per month.
Kildare takes second spot, with average rents of €1,382.
Standardised average rents in existing tenancies were lowest in Co Leitrim, on €698.
Outside of the Greater Dublin Area, which includes the surrounding counties of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow, average rents in existing tenancies in Q3 of last year stood at €1,004.
When it comes to average rents in new tenancies, Dublin is again out on top on a figure of €2,113 – 18.2% higher than average rents in existing tenancies.
However, Co Wicklow comes second this time round, with average rents in new tenancies of €1,596, just ahead of Kildare on €1,567.
Leitrim again ranks bottom in terms of cost, with average rents in new tenancies of €853.
Previously, the RTB Rent Index only included new tenancies, but this is the second report that has included information on rent levels in existing tenancies.
Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) 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.
However, the Residential Tenancies Board has said that its index doesn’t measure compliance with RPZ legislation.
As a result of this, a spokesperson for the RTB said the “5.2% annual increase in rents in existing tenancies is not to be interpreted as a measure of compliance with the RPZ rules”.
“This is a national figure that is based on existing tenancies, both inside and outside RPZs,” said the spokesperson.
They added: “Year on year, the set of existing tenancy properties in the index will change as some tenancies end and others reach one year in duration and so are included.
“For this reason, it is not expected that the Existing Tenancy Rent Index could provide a measure of allowable rent increases in RPZs.”
However, the RTB’s deputy director Lucia Crimin noted that it is “responsible for ensuring there is compliance by landlords with their legal obligations including registering tenancies and setting rent amounts correctly”.
She added: “The new improved tenancy dataset is providing very important information which we are now using to identify potential non-compliance.”
Debating the report during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil today, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said rents in existing tenancies across the country growing by 5.2% is evidence of “flagrant breaches” of rules designed to cap rates in certain urban areas.
Doherty said the RTB report showed renters are being “fleeced” in every county across Ireland.
He said rents have increased by 30% over the lifetime of the current government, stting that the report shows rents are “continuing to spiral out of control” and that many young people are choosing to emigrate for better opportunities.
Finance Minister Michael McGrath told the Dáil that the reason why rents are continuing to rise is because there is a mismatch between supply and demand.
“But when you look at the activity rate, we are unquestionably now making very significant progress.
“There is real momentum in homebuilding across the country. 32,700 homes built last year – that was a 10% improvement on 2022 and well ahead of the Housing For All target.”
On the subject of implementing Sinn Fein’s proposed three-year rent freeze, McGrath claimed this would negatively impact the supply of new homes.
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(o)(o)
My knowledge tells me these are two letter Os in parenthesis and my imagination tells me they are boobs.
Forget about knowledge or imagination Dunn, you’re just very sad….
I guess that’s a matter of perception, Glen.
No imagination no light bulb – 1% inspiration – simple really .
” Imagination cannot exist without knowledge .The more they are in balance the closer to wisdom one becomes ! ”
Ching Zo – Chinese Philosopher .
Heard once that “Without Imagination The World Has No Colour” and I think thats true..
Knowledge is key.
But I couldn’t fathom life without my imagination …… Even if it tends to be over active at times.
If you think about it a lot of our knowledge comes from other people’s imaginations.
I love using my imagination. I would be described as being ‘introverted’. I like thinking more than talking and love playing with my imagination. I’m hardly ever bored.
best way to be
No TV and computers will increase imagination!
Imagination fuels knowledge.
And with a little knowledge your imagination can run wild.
What if – you couldn’t imagine knowledge, or had no knowledge of imagination?
Would pigs still fly – or sleeping dogs lie?
I believe they come hand in hand as if you had no imagination innovative would never be discovered.
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
John was a genius with a great imagination
Which came first .. the chicken or the egg?
The conditions that gave life to what would eventually become what we know as a chicken came first and then it decided it wanted to reproduce early in it’s development. I imagine.
The chicken of course
The chicken. Genesis 1:21-22 says “21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”
Conversely, Hinduism, Egyptian creation stories and the oral tradition of Pikkiwoki the Papua New Guinea Mud God all have the world hatching from an egg, which therefore predated the chicken.
So Genesis is outvoted 3-1.
Man knew the world was flat and couldn’t imagine it any other way so of course imagination is more important than knowledge. I also have this quote tattooed down my left arm.
I have one simple question. Does anyone on here think we will have a modern day Einstein?
I always thought Carl Sagan came close, in terms of knowledge and an endless imagination.
Good question, The answer I think is yes. But there’s a slight problem in recognition in our era.
Would Einstein be brilliant if alive today? Well he probably would but there’s that many people around today nitpicking every theory he wouldn’t be recoginsed as much.
I’d recognise his hair anywhere….
Imagination is the fuel, the code breaker, the barrier remover for knowledge.
But when imagination is confused for knowledge it is not good.
Religion is imagination confused for knowledge.
If you are going to court you need knowledge if you are going to a art museum you need imagination
Yes. I hate reading a book that goes into too much depth. The likes of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs are a great example. If I wanted to read an encyclopedia I would.
To dream of a better world is imagination. To build this better world requires knowledge. To have one with out the other is like having a cAr with no engine. But when combined, they can take us anywhere.
Super article! Love it Naomi!
You can always imagine to travel at the speed of light, but having the knowledge is knowing how to implement it, but the fact that someone had that dream is as equal thank having a knowledge, without someone like JFK per say, human kind wouldn’t have visited the moon is the way it happened. it was his dream and desire to make it happen within less than 10 years as he first said it in the early 60s
Well Bertie was no Einstein
Yes if there’s an idea and if it’s a good idea someone will invest in you and can pay someone else to engineer it into reality. Dennis O’Brien is a great example he gets ideas and has loads of buddies in politics that will manifest his ideas for him.
imagination = I – eye – magic
Peter Higgs maybe, re modern day Einstein…
have your say