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NEWLY RELEASED DATA suggests that rents across Ireland are now rising at their fastest ever rate.
In the final quarter of 2016 the rate of inflation of rents across Ireland was 13.5% according to Daft.ie’s latest rental price report, which is conducted using properties advertised for rent on that website.
The average rent being seen nationwide is now €1,111 per month.
In Dublin rents are now rising by 15% per year, the highest rate seen since mid-2014.
Those same rents are now 65% greater than those seen at their lowest ebb in 2010.
Perhaps more significantly, rents in the capital are now a full 14% greater than at their previous peak, seen during the pre-crash days of early 2008.
In Ireland’s four other cities things are not quite so dramatic, if far from ideal.
In Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Galway inflation has receded slightly but remains between 10% and 13%.
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Daft.ie economist Ronan Lyons describes the problem as “a severe imbalance between supply and demand”, with just 4,000 homes available to rent across Ireland on 1 February.
By contrast, availability in April 2007, the lowest such point during the Celtic Tiger years, was about 4,400 homes.
The report is harshly critical of Dublin’s sprawl suggesting that “Greater Tokyo, with a population of over 27 million people, fits into 9,000 square kilometres”.
Greater Dublin, with a population of less than 2 million people, takes up almost 6,000 square kilometres.
In Dublin, city centre rents now stand at €1,655 (an annual increase of 15.5%), while the north of the city stands at €1,529 and the south city at €1,763.
Rents in Dublin as a whole rose an average of 4% in each of the last three months, the largest three-month increase on record.
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While rents are rising across the country, the trend is to be seen most acutely in the counties surrounding Dublin with Meath, Louth, and Dublin showing yearly rental increases of 17.3%, 17.3%, and 14.7% respectively.
The phenomenon is also being seen further afield however: Longford (16.6%) and Westmeath (14.5%) for example are also showing large increases, suggesting the rental trap is becoming more of an acute problem outside the capital.
Grow up
Lyons describes the report’s findings as making “grim reading not only for tenants but for policymakers also”.
The solution for driving population growth across the country without Dublin gradually ‘eating up’ the countryside requires several things to happen according to the economist.
“Dublin needs to be allowed to grow up. Height limits of between four and six storeys in one of Europe’s fastest growing cities merely translate into lost jobs and higher rents,” he said.
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Secondly, homes need to be built on brownfield, as well as greenfield, sites. Looking around Dublin, it is littered with grossly underemployed land, in the form of army barracks, golf clubs and bus depots, built on the fringes of the city in the past but now in prime central locations. A land tax would help achieve this reuse of our scarce and valuable urban land.
Lyons contends that the biggest problem facing the rental sector however is “the extremely high cost of construction in Ireland, compared to other high-income countries”, and that until this is addressed the apartments needed to address the supply issue simply won’t be built.
Reaction
The Simon Communities in Ireland have described the released figures as “extremely worrying”.
“The spiralling rents and dwindling supply that have characterised the private rented sector in recent years must be addressed. Increasingly, these issues are preventing people from finding and sustaining affordable homes within the rental market,” said the community’s national spokesperson Niamh Randall.
Many people entering into homelessness are coming from the private rental sector where they have been unable to maintain their tenancy. Keeping people in the homes that they already have is key to stopping the flow of people into homelessness.
In light of this, Randall said that “the designation of rent pressure zones and the extension of these zones beyond Dublin and Cork to the fifteen new areas announced by the Minister last month are welcome”.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin O’Broin meanwhile said that in light of the figures “rent certainty is urgently needed”.
“Daft’s figures for the final quarter of 2016 are hugely concerning. This Government is continuing to fail renters,” he said.
Minister Coveney had an opportunity before Christmas to halt unaffordable rent increases. Instead, he gifted landlords with a 4% year on year rent increase for the next three years. The minister’s failure to get to grips with the crisis in the rental sector continues to heap pressure on struggling renters and effectively locks low income earners out of the rental market.
TheJournal.ie publisher Journal Media Ltd has some shareholders in common with Daft.ie.
Still better than half the dumps on daft in Dublin city.
At about the same price and all.
Did ya give her a good wash ?
1500 a month is not bad when you include WiFi, Cable tv and a cleaner/butler. Gym included. This is what our city’s need. They look pretty cool IMO
Swankier and bigger than my first bedsit! lol
I like the way a cleaner comes in once a week as standard.
Was expecting worse, can only imagine what they’ll be like in 20years time
Could do with these in dublin 500 would be snapped up in hours..
Well its official the future will in fact be like The 5th Element…
Exactly what came to mind, haha.
I’d take it if it comes with a Lelu in the shower…
So rich people’s homes are getting bigger and the ordinary everyday person’s home gets smaller and smaller and some people are OK with that? The problem is not with people building them, it’s with people buying them. I hope that if anything like this gets built in Dublin that people don’t buy them. They only serve to maximise profits for the developer and nothing else.
Currently living in NYC and paying $1000 to live with 4 other people in an apartment with no living room and a shared bathroom. I’d 100% be up for living in one of these.
Adly needed in dublin they would be snapped up in hours… look nice for a micro apartment
roof over the head. all the essentials, heat, water, toilet, kitchen, electriciy etc what more do you u need. id be happy out living there. close to work/college etc. this is the way its going to have to go. 7 billion people on this planet and increasing. 5th element is imminent :-)
Great idea, with all that space down by the Dublin docklands these would be ideal for students and those entering the workforce, they would hold there value and always be in demand…
A much better use of space that what you have in the surrounding areas of the city centre, large houses with front and back gardens, usually only 1 elderly person living in them in a lot of the most expensive houses..
You could go a little stir crazy if you did much more than sleep in such a micro apartment.
That’s a burglar in pic 1.
A single’s pad for someone with very little possessions, very few books, no need to entertain visitors and able to manage lean living.
Could be OK if you were just to use it as second residence for the working week or something though?
Jenga with caravans.
Kitchen ‘slash’ bathroom
Bigger than some apts in Seoul
What does Alan Kelly think of these spacious accommodations? That’s the lad to chop off a few metres.
Minister Kelly was genuinely dismissive of these rabbit hutches.
He said that he could do smaller by taking plans of prison cells in Mountjoy and doing a variation on these. He is considering contracting this out to DO B
Minister Kelly explained that the more separate households the more households to pay water charges.
“large windows that slide open on to a false balcony” – sounds dangerous- open door on to what I think is a balcony and put my foot out into open air and fall 10 storeys?
If you were on your own you wouldn’t want anything bigger. It’s only birds that want gaffs so big there’s rooms you don’t even go in to and you spend half of one of your days the weekend cleaning the kip
I have a bigger caravan
In New York?
Yes I pulled in there on top of the trump tower last week. I be selling a few gate tomorrow if your interested sir
1500 is a great price for NYC
Nice.
It’s in Kips Bay :)
City living for singles or first time renters of the future
Now try bringing this concept to Ireland, and everyone loses their minds…
First dates would be most efficient. From popcorn and soda, to making bacon at the switch of a button…
I need to go the toilet
have your say