THE PERCEPTION THAT there are a lot of empty rental residential properties crying out for a tenant seems to be belied by the latest quarterly report from Ireland’s largest property website, Daft.ie.

The report states that the number of properties available to rent nationwide at the start of this year was at its lowest level in three and a half years. This graph shows the rise and fall in the stock of properties since July 2008:

(Image: Daft.ie. The numbers illustrated are based on properties advertised to let on the site)

There were almost 1,000 fewer rentals available in Dublin at the end of 2011 compared to end of 2010 – the drop was 5.7 per cent there.

The report, which is based on rental prices and properties to let on Daft.ie in the last three months of 2011, also shows that there has been a small fall in the average rental prices asked in Galway, Limerick and Waterford year-on-year. In Dublin, average rental asking price stayed almost static while in Cork, it saw an increase year-on-year from 2010 to end of 2011.

The figures were as follows for the average rental:

• Dublin – €1,057, up 0.3 per cent
• Cork – €865, up 2.6 per cent
• Galway – €747, down 1.2 per cent
• Limerick – €673, down 2.4 per cent
• Waterford – €632, down 2.4 per cent

Ronan Lyons, resident economist at Daft.ie, said that the slight increase in Dublin and in Cork “suggests underlying demand from a build-up of first-time buyers”.

The average rent nationwide is now €821 – a fall of 0.7 per cent over the course of 2011.

Interested in the change in rental asking prices over the course of 2011 on daft.ie? Look here:

When focusing on Dublin specifically, the report finds that rental asking prices rose in Q4 in the city centre, fell in North County Dublin but pretty much stayed the same in all other areas of the greater Dublin area. However, the overall cost of rental accommodation has fallen dramatically since the peak of the boom (end of 2006) by between 25 per cent and almost 30 per cent in all areas across the capital.

For full tables of rental changes in properties and in the rent-a-room scheme, county by county or in specific cities across Ireland, click through to the Daft.ie Q4 2011 report>

Note: Daft.ie is part of Distilled Media Group. Journal Media Ltd has shareholders – Brian and Eamonn Fallon – in common with Distilled Media Group.

Main points of Finance Bill 2012 – Increases in Mortgage Interest Relief for first-time buyers>