Huge rise in rents in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Galway
Rental market experts see a 'noticeable difference between trends in Dublin and elsewhere'.
Four cities outside of Dublin are now suffering most from soaring rental prices, new figures have revealed.
Tenants in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Galway have faced rent rises of between 10.2% and 16.2% year-on-year, while rents have stabilised in the capital.
Market experts are now remarking on the "noticeable difference between trends in Dublin and elsewhere".
Average rents in regional cities now stand at:
- Cork city: €1,882, up 10.2% in a year;
- Galway city: €1,982, up 15.7%;
- Limerick city: €1,864, up 16.2%;
- Waterford city: €1,549, up 14.1%
In Dublin, an increase in the supply of homes in the rental market has led to a stabilisation of rent prices, and the Government has now been urged to focus attention on improving the supply in the rest of the country.
The data is contained in the latest Daft.ie rental market report, which found that rents are now 8% higher nationally compared to a year ago.
The average rent in Ireland is just under €1,825 per month, compared to €765 in late 2011.
In Dublin, the average rent stands at €2,354 but has risen by just 0.4% in the third quarter of 2023 and 1.3% for the first nine months of the year.
Dublin now has more homes available to rent than the rest of the country put together.
Just 800 out of 1,800 available homes to rent in Ireland are located outside the capital.
Economist Ronan Lyons said there is a growing disparity between access to rental properties in Dublin and elsewhere.
“If you go back to 2015 to 2019, pre-covid, things were bad but on average there would have been about 1,500 homes to rent in Dublin and between 2,000 and 2,500 to rent in the rest of the country," he said.
The focus on building rental properties in the capital is working, he added.
“It is well worth ensuring that we can get new rental housing all around the country — Cork, Galway, Waterford, Limerick, everywhere — because the problem is a national one, it’s not a Dublin one,” he said.
The “big challenge” for the Government is planning for viable rental properties nationally, he said.
"The Government should have been doing this five years ago. While rents have risen in Munster by 10% since the start of the year, and by nearly 13% in Connacht-Ulster, they have risen by just 1.3% in Dublin.
“It's proof, if it were needed, that the answer to Ireland’s rental market woes is — as it has been for the last decade — supply, supply, supply.”
Mr Lyons pointed to the Census showing that 330,000 households are renting, and insisted 1,800 available properties to rent nationally is “far too little”.
“If there’s a magic number, it’s probably closer to 6,000,” he said.
Leitrim now has the lowest average rent at €1,023 while South County Dublin is the most expensive at €2,602.
Housing supply was a key focus of the Sinn Féin ard fheis at the weekend, with Mary Lou McDonald promising that her party, if in government, will "roll up its sleeves" to deliver the biggest housing programme in the history of the State.
Ms McDonald said Sinn Féin would prioritise housing, transform health, and build a "nation home" for everyone.
Speaking to almost 2,000 delegates in Athlone, Ms McDonald said Sinn Féin will provide genuinely affordable homes and would "build enough of them, get the targets right, and increase capital expenditure”.
“And we won’t stop there," she said. "We’ll cut red tape and bureaucracy. Bring thousands of vacant homes back into use. Harness new technologies for housing construction.”
However, Higher Education Minister Simon Harris accused the Sinn Féin leader of failing to provide figures on the number of houses her party will deliver in the first year of any government they may form.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
