Twelve times more properties available for short-term lets than for renters, new figures show
Nearly 22,000 properties advertised on short-term letting websites are offering tourists, holidaymakers, and those heading to concerts and events the opportunity to rent 'entire' houses or properties. File picture
There are 12 times more “entire” properties available for rent on short-term letting platforms than there are available for long-term living, new figures show.
Nearly 22,000 properties advertised on short-term letting websites are offering tourists, holidaymakers, and those heading to concerts and events the opportunity to rent “entire” houses or properties.
This compares to just 1,800 properties or fewer that were available for hard-pressed renters countrywide on Daft.ie.
Tourism Minister Peter Burke confirmed 34,000 short-term lets were advertised across four platforms in May — up from 33,000 in April.
He said “approximately 64% of these properties are advertised as ‘entire’ houses and apartments” — about 21,760 properties.
In Dublin, some 3,850 (55%) of 7,010 properties available for short-term let offered the entire property.
In response to a parliamentary question from Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne, Mr Burke said as there was no register, there was “no way of knowing whether these are people’s principal private residences or otherwise”.
He also noted there was an annual 10% increase in the short-term letting sector.
The number of properties available for renters across the country on Daft.ie has differed over the last week.
On Wednesday, there were 1,800 properties countrywide. This dropped to 1,688 properties on Thursday. By Friday, this had fallen further to 1,669, and decreased further to 1,633 on Monday.
There were 868 properties for rent on Daft in Dublin on Friday. This fell to 838 on Monday.
In May, the same month as the short-term letting data was captured, there were 15,747 people classified as homeless. This included 4,844 children.
There were 2,273 families in emergency accommodation.
The latest homelessness figures for June rose to 15,915, including 4,958 children and 2,230 families.
Mr Hearne told the the number of properties available shows the “real negative impact of short-term lets on the housing disaster”.
“There are twice as many entire properties being let as short-term lets (21,760) as the number of households who are homeless (2,320 families and 7,060 individuals),” he said.
“The increasing impact of short-term lets is a result of a rampant lack of regulation and enforcement, resulting from a policy failure on the part of the Government.
“These houses did not just spring up on the market like mushrooms. They were allowed to by policy and a lack of enforcement.”
A short-term let is when a property is rented out for periods not exceeding 15 days.
Currently, people must apply for planning permission to rent out their principal private residence for less than 14 days at a time. This is not required if the owner rents out the property for fewer than 90 days a year.
If the property is not their principal private residence, the 90-day exemption does not apply, and planning permission is needed for the property to become a short-term let.
In April, Mr Burke secured Cabinet approval to progress the general scheme of the new Short-Term Letting and Tourism Bill. However, it will not go through the full legislative process in the Oireachtas until later this year.
The proposed legislation will introduce a register for all short-term lets from May 2026, with Fáilte Ireland put in charge of implementing and managing the register.
Hosts offering accommodation for periods up to 21 nights will be obliged to register and hold a valid registration number. This must be displayed when advertising their property.
The legislation will restrict short-term lets in towns with populations of more than 10,000 people. However, people in these towns will still be allowed to rent out their primary residences for up to 90 days.
The bill will also introduce sanctions for hosts who do not have a registration number. An administrative financial sanction procedure will also be introduced for platforms that do not comply with their obligations.
