THE AVERAGE MONTHLY rent in Ireland at the end of 2020 was €1,414, 0.9% higher than the previous year.
However, the pandemic has had contrasting impacts in Dublin and the rest of the country according to the latest rental report from Daft.ie.
In the capital, rents fell by 3.3% during by 2020. In the rest of the country, rents rose by 5.4% on average.
Here’s a breakdown of the year-on-year changes in the last three months of 2020 in some of the main urban areas compared to the same period in 2019:
The average rent in the fourth quarter of last year in Dublin city centre was €1,972 – a fall of 5.6%. The smallest declines were seen in north county Dublin (average rent of €1,732 was down 0.1%) and in west county Dublin (€1,814, down 0.7%).
In Dublin, the different trends in rents reflect the amount of properties available to rent according to the Daft report.
On 1 February, there were 2,600 homes available to rent in Dublin. This compares to fewer than 1,600 homes on the same date in 2020.
However, this contrasts with the rest of the country where the number of available homes has fallen sharply. On 1 February 2020, almost 2,000 homes were available for rent outside Dublin. This year, only 1,139 were available.
The cheapest counties for average rent in the country included Longford, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Donegal and Cavan.
Trinity College Dublin economist Ronan Lyons, who authored the report, said that this report should remove “any lingering doubts” of the impact of supply on lower rents.
He said: “Outside Dublin, Covid-19 has led to a further worsening of supply conditions in the rental market, with the number of homes coming on each month down 17% on already low levels. While demand for rental homes outside the capital has fallen – with the rise in unemployment – it has not fallen as much as supply, pushing rents further upwards.
“In Dublin, Covid-19 has had the opposite effect, with the number of homes being advertised to rent up 64% on February 1st, compared to a year previously. With the increase in homes being advertised, active demand for homes to rent has also soared, up 40% compared to pre-pandemic.
But the greater liquidity of the market has helped bring rents down slightly. Nonetheless, rents in the capital – and in Ireland’s other main cities – remain at twice their level a decade ago. The underscores the importance of ensuring the construction of tens of thousands of new rental homes over coming years, to help bring rents back down to affordable levels.
The report can be found here.
Note: Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with Daft.ie publisher Distilled Media Group.
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