NEW RENTS IN the final three months of last year were an average of 13.7% higher than in the same period in 2021, the latest rental report from Daft.ie shows.

The property website’s fourth-quarter report for 2022 indicates that the average market rent nationwide between October and December was 1,733 euro per month, up 2.7% compared to the third quarter of the year and 126% above the low of 765 euro in late 2011.

It said that in general, all parts of the country are experiencing “substantial” yearly increases in open market rents, and the availability of rental homes was near an all-time low.

In the year to December, the rate of inflation in Dublin was 13.1%, while in Cork city it was 14.9%.

The rate of inflation in the three other cities – Galway, Limerick and Waterford – was higher again, ranging from 18.9% in Limerick to 20.2% in Waterford. Outside the cities, the average annual increase in market rents was 13.6%.

The continued increase in rents comes amid an extreme shortage of accommodation, including rental homes, as the government continues to grapple with the housing crisis.

A winter eviction ban in place since November had hoped to stem the rising number of people who are homeless, which has reached new record highs for six consecutive months.

The government has said the moratorium has helped reduce the rate at which homelessness is increasing; as it stands, it is due to expire at the end of March.

On February 1, there were 1,096 homes available to rent nationally on the Daft.ie site, down over 20% on the same date a year ago and roughly one quarter the average level of availability during 2015-2019.

The report also includes an index of rents paid by sitting tenants, rather than movers, based on a survey of tenants.

It shows that rents paid by sitting tenants have increased by 3.8% on average over the last 12 months.

Since the introduction of Rent Pressure Zones in 2016 – which aim to limit the rate at which landlords can hike up rents by – rents of sitting tenants have risen by 19% on average, compared to an average increase in open-market rents of nearly 75% over the same period.

The Government has warned that it faces a serious challenge to tackle the severe shortage of housing, which it blames for the unaffordability of homes for sale and for rent.

The scale of the problem has been exacerbated further in recent years by a construction slowdown during the pandemic, a rise in the cost of materials due to inflation, and a surge in asylum seekers arriving in Ireland.

After becoming Taoiseach again in December, Leo Varadkar said he wants to “turn the tide” on rising homelessness this year and next, adding that it “makes sense” to increase the yearly targets for providing homes.

The 2023 target in the government’s Housing for All plan is currently to provide 29,000 homes.

“We understand the extent to which it’s holding the country back in so many different ways. I’m very much determined to make 2023 a year of action and a year of delivery when it comes to housing,” Mr Varadkar said in January.