Cork city's average monthly rent for new tenancy is second highest at €1,453

Rents across country up by 9.2%, approaching levels last seen in 2017

Rent prices have been indirectly impacted by Covid-19 measures.

Rents have risen sharply by 9.2% for new tenancies across the country this year, with the average national rent now standing at €1,460 according to the Residential Tenancies Board.

In Cork city, the standardised average rent for new tenancies is the second highest in the country at €1,453, with rent levels in Dublin city the highest at €1,987.

The RTB — which regulates the rental sector — stressed that its figures are based on new tenancies registered with it, and do not reflect the rental prices paid by existing tenants.

Having fallen considerably around the beginning of the pandemic, rent price growth is now approaching levels last seen in 2017.

It said that the number of newly registered tenancies in the first quarter of this year dropped sharply compared to the same time in 2021, from 15,291 to 10,414 which is a drop of 32%. Just over three in five of all new tenancies registered were for apartments.

In Q1 2022, the standardised average rent in new tenancies for houses in Ireland stood at €1,447 per month, an increase of 4.2% on Q4 2021 and a rise of 10.0% year-on-year. The standardised average rent in new tenancies for apartments stood at €1,498 per month in the first quarter of 2022, which is an increase of 2.8% on Q4 2021, and an increase of 9.1% on Q1 2021.

In over half of counties, the average rent of new tenancies was above €1,000 a month — Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow.

Prices are rising fastest in Leitrim, with growth of 22.4% year-on-year. The lowest yearly growth was the 1.3% in Wicklow. Twelve counties had prices grow by more than 10%.

By county, we can the cost of rent in new tenancies increased substantially even between the last three months of 2021 and the first three months of 2022.

In Cork, they rose 4%. In Kildare, rents rose 11.5% and by 17.4% in Cavan in just a few months.

RTB director Niall Byrne said: “These results are likely still indirectly impacted by Covid-19 public health measures along with constraints in supply and tenants choosing to stay longer in their existing tenancies.

“In reading the Index, it is also important to note that these results only provide us with a snapshot into a small proportion of the private rental sector in Ireland.”