Rents rocketing in Cork, Galway, and Limerick

Homelessness charities and student unions have warned about a rental housing crisis in Ireland as a new survey confirmed huge shortages are sending costs soaring, with rents now rising at a faster pace in major cities such as Cork, Galway and Limerick than in the capital.

Property web site Daft.ie said that its survey showed an “extraordinarily tight” supply of only 4,600 properties available to rent across the State.

That compares with 6,800 rented properties on the market a year earlier,and sharply lower than the 23,000 properties available to rent six years ago. In Dublin, there is only 2,000 properties available, though rents inthe capital are now rising at a slower pace than in many other cities.

Cork rents had soared by 10.4% in the year to €889. That was followed byGalway which recorded an increase of 10.1% to €818. Limerick rents also climbed steeply, by 8.9%, to €718, while Waterford posted an increase of 8.2% in the year to €629. Dublin rental inflation has slowed from a peak of 15%, but costs in the capital have now reached €1,368, up 8.5% in the year, according to Daft.ie.

Charity the Simon Communities called on the Government to increase the caps on rent supplements and housing assistance payments. “This crisis is nationwide with a growing impact on all parts of the country. We see the devastating impact of rising rents and reduced supply everyday,” said Niamh Randall, spokesperson at Simon.

UCD students’ union president Marcus O’Halloran said that students will “be pushed out of the market”.

The cost of renting is approaching record levels even as the cost of paying down a mortgage tumbles, the Irish Examiner reported last week. The chronic shortage of homes has again sent rents soaring to stand only a whisker short of matching their boom-time levels in early 2008, CSO figures showed, even though household incomes are a fraction of their pre-crash levels.

Private landlord rents climbed 1% last month and were 10.4% more expensive than a year earlier. Rents are among the few goods and services on the Consumer Price Index that are rising at breakneck speed.