AVERAGE RENTS ARE 43% higher than pre-Covid levels, and rents nationwide have increased for the 15th consecutive quarter.
In its Rental Price Report for the third quarter of 2024, Daft.ie found that the average open-market rent nationwide was €1,955 per month.
The issue of housing has featured heavily in the early parts of the general election campaign, and the author of the Daft report has called on the new government to “give the same priority to the rental sector that has been given to owner-occupiers and to social housing over the last few years”.
“Otherwise, it’s hard to see when conditions will change,” said the report’s author, Ronan Lyons, who is an economist at Trinity College Dublin.
Lyons remarked that “owner-occupied homes and social housing have dominated policymaker attention” but called on the next government to “address the lack of supply of private rental housing early in its term”.
Market rents nationwide increased by 1.7% between the second and third quarter of the year, the 15th consecutive quarterly increase, to leave an average rental figure of €1,955 per month across Ireland.
When compared to the same period last year, rents have increased by 7.2% and by 43% compared to the quarter before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rental inflation in Dublin has also accelerated in recent months, bringing it closer to rates seen elsewhere in the country.
In Dublin, rents in the third quarter were 5.2% higher than the same period last year and twice the rate of inflation seen at the end of 2023, when the figure was 2.6%.
Outside of Dublin, the annual rate of inflation is 8.9%, down from 12.3% at the end of last year.
And after 18 months of improving availability, the number of homes available to rent on the open market is falling again.
On 1 November, there were just over 2,400 homes available to rent across the country, down 14% on the same date a year ago, and a sharp drop from the 2015-2019 average of almost 4,400.
In Dublin, the number of homes available to rent is under 1,370.
In Dublin, average market rents stood at €2,476 in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%,
Rents also continue to rise sharply in Limerick City, where the average rent is now €2,221, up 19.2% on last year.
Cork and Galway cities also saw increases of just over 10%, with average rents standing at €2,189 in Galway city and €2,077 in Cork city.
In Waterford city, rents were up 5.8% when compared to the same period in 2023 to reach a figure of €1,639.
Outside the cities, rents increased 8.3% and now stand at €1,586, while the nationwide average is €1,955.
Meanwhile, the least expensive place to rent is Co Leitrim, where rents are €1,161, though this is a year-on-year increase of 13.5% and a massive 94% higher than pre-Covid levels.
Co Donegal is the second least expensive place to rent, at €1,170 per month, which is a year-on-year increase of 4.3% and up 80% on pre-Covid levels.
On the other end of the scale, south county Dublin is the dearest place to rent at €2,704, a yearly increase of 3.9% and up 28% when compared to pre-Covid.
This is followed closely by south Dublin City, at €2,559 per month, also a yearly increase of 3.9% and up 27% on pre-Covid levels.
The report’s author, Ronan Lyons, said “upward pressure is building once more in Dublin”.
While Lyons acknowledged that it’s difficult to work out the exact number of new homes completed for rent, he said it is “highly correlated with the total number of apartments completed”.
“During 2023, as Dublin experience a significant pipeline of new rental homes, it enjoyed very little inflation in rents, as supply and demand were largely in balance”, said Lyons.
He added that the “peak of the apartment construction boom” was last year, when over 9,000 apartments were built in Dublin.
However, Lyons remarked that the “upswing in construction of rental homes in Dublin is over”.
Lyons said that as of 2020, Dublin was short 90,000 apartments and needed to build around 15,000 apartments per year throughout the current decade.
“The only year it has come close is 2023 – and that is the only year in which rents in Dublin have been close to stable,” said Lyons.
He said the number of apartments completed in Dublin during the first nine months of 2024 is down a quarter on the same period in 2023.
“As the pipeline dries up, conditions in Dublin are likely to mirror those in the rest of the country: a re-emergence of very weak supply in the face of strong demand,” said Lyons.
He cautioned that “owner-occupied homes and social housing have dominated policymaker attention over the last few years”.
Lyons said that the new government will have to “address the lack of supply of private rental housing early in its term, if it is to bring about a change in conditions similar to what Dublin enjoyed in 2023 but across all rental markets.”
The Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan said the report shows that “renters have been abandoned by this Government”.
“The average monthly rent in Ireland is now €1,955,” said O’Callaghan, “that is a staggering €23,460 a year and 91% of the salary of a minimum wage worker.
He added: “Under this Government, renters are expected to work their lives away just to hand the majority of their wages over to their landlord – if they are lucky enough to find a place to live.
“It is not good enough and it does not have to be this way.
“Renters have been left behind for far too long by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. They will not forget this on election day.”
Note: Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with Daft.ie publisher Distilled Media Group.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say