NEW FIGURES HAVE shown that rents in Dublin went up by 9.6% last year.

This is according to new figures from the fourth quarter of 2014 from the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB).

Across the country, rents went up by 5.8% overall – with a rise of 4.8% for houses and 6.4% for apartments when compared with the final quarter of 2013.

Price growth 

The average price of renting a house in Dublin is now at €1,301, up from €1,216 a year before – an increase of 7%. The cost of renting an apartment went up at a steeper rate, from 10.9% from €1,051 to €1,166, a rise of €115.

Around the country, rent growth was much less marked, with an overall increase of 3.9%, an average figure of just €24.

Specifically house rents went up by 4.4%, an increase of €28 from €639 to €667, and apartments went up by 2.9%, by €17 from €595 to €612.

Between the third and fourth quarters of 2014, changes in rents around the country were not that dramatic. While rents went up by 2.1% in Dublin, outside of the capital they actually fell by 0.3%.

Trends

In recent years, it has been found that there is a discrepancy between the third and fourth quarters of the year due to high activity levels in the third quarter with students seeking accommodation.

The PTRB’s rent index shows that rents hit their peak nationally in the fourth quarter of 2007, before falling by 26% to their lowest point in the first quarter of 2012.

The PTRB claim that their report is the most accurate of its kind in the market as it is based on “actual rents being paid”, as opposed to taking the figures from rents that are asked for or advertised for.

Speaking about the results, the director of the PRTB, Anne Marie Caulfield, warned that tenants should become more aware of their rights, saying:

Many tenants do not realise that they may be entitled to continue to rent the property they are currently living in for up to four years, even if they signed a shorter lease; they don’t always know what the correct notice periods are for the termination of their tenancy; or that rent increases can only happen once during a 12-month period.

Read: How much rent would you have been paying in the 1990s?

Also: How to rent an ENTIRE HOUSE in Dublin for less than €300 a month