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THE AVERAGE MONTHLY rent in Ireland at the end of 2020 was €1,414, 0.9% higher than the previous year.
However, the pandemic has had contrasting impacts in Dublin and the rest of the country according to the latest rental report from Daft.ie.
In the capital, rents fell by 3.3% during by 2020. In the rest of the country, rents rose by 5.4% on average.
Here’s a breakdown of the year-on-year changes in the last three months of 2020 in some of the main urban areas compared to the same period in 2019:
The average rent in the fourth quarter of last year in Dublin city centre was €1,972 – a fall of 5.6%. The smallest declines were seen in north county Dublin (average rent of €1,732 was down 0.1%) and in west county Dublin (€1,814, down 0.7%).
In Dublin, the different trends in rents reflect the amount of properties available to rent according to the Daft report.
On 1 February, there were 2,600 homes available to rent in Dublin. This compares to fewer than 1,600 homes on the same date in 2020.
However, this contrasts with the rest of the country where the number of available homes has fallen sharply. On 1 February 2020, almost 2,000 homes were available for rent outside Dublin. This year, only 1,139 were available.
The cheapest counties for average rent in the country included Longford, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Donegal and Cavan.
Trinity College Dublin economist Ronan Lyons, who authored the report, said that this report should remove “any lingering doubts” of the impact of supply on lower rents.
He said: “Outside Dublin, Covid-19 has led to a further worsening of supply conditions in the rental market, with the number of homes coming on each month down 17% on already low levels. While demand for rental homes outside the capital has fallen – with the rise in unemployment – it has not fallen as much as supply, pushing rents further upwards.
“In Dublin, Covid-19 has had the opposite effect, with the number of homes being advertised to rent up 64% on February 1st, compared to a year previously. With the increase in homes being advertised, active demand for homes to rent has also soared, up 40% compared to pre-pandemic.
But the greater liquidity of the market has helped bring rents down slightly. Nonetheless, rents in the capital – and in Ireland’s other main cities – remain at twice their level a decade ago. The underscores the importance of ensuring the construction of tens of thousands of new rental homes over coming years, to help bring rents back down to affordable levels.
The report can be found here.
Note: Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with Daft.ie publisher Distilled Media Group.
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Those who profit from other people’s housing needs are still slurping at the trough, thanks to the support of FF-FG-GP policy of Landlords First.
@Bramley Hawthorne: We actually have quite balanced rights for tenants and landlords in this country, sorry if that doesn’t fit your narrative.
@Cynical: how is that a fact and not an opinion? Can you compare it to other countries with a similar level of renting? Renting is a poverty trap. Renters may never be able to buy.
@Bramley Hawthorne: SF have kept property tax at thet lowest possible rates in Dublin, benefiting those people you say that are slurping at the trough. If the property tax was increased it would generate more money for social housing in Dublin.
@SC: Thinking that rent is a waste of money and everyone should be buying a house is a backward mindset.
@Bramley Hawthorne: This is the way we want it. What we vote for, over and over…
@Cynical: The narrative is human decency but those who own and profit from other people’s homes wouldn’t even understand this.
@Cynical: not sure why youbthink rights are balanced? Renters have very little real protection. There are no real enforceable rules and bringing a case to the PRTB is a death sentence for renters.
Renters walk a tight rope of having to keep the landlord happy (increases above rent pressure zone limits) or facing eviction.
You only have to look at the 4%+ rent increases in Kildare and Wicklow to see that the rent pressure zone rules are being ignored by landlords
Your almost at a disadvantage now for even considering moving. Be it to rent, or buy.
Your dammed if you do, and dammed if you don’t.
I’ll be in my log cabin that costs me €1500 a month in someone’s back garden. But it’s ok, it’s south facing, has a front door and a roof.
I work in tech and I know personally 6 people who have moved out of Dublin since they’ve been able to work from home.
A lot of the bigger companies have now realised that people can be just as efficient and stated giving the go ahead to work from home on a permanent basis.
Since you no longer have to work in Dublin to have a Dublin salary, a lot of people (not all) will choose not to. Hopefully this is the start of a big correction in rents for Dublin.
On another note, if you are tired of renting completely and are starting to think about buying, check out The Get House Podcast. Interviews experts from the house buying journey and people on the journey to share their best advice.
https://www.gethousesurvey.ie/podcast
@Noel Tate: so basically a mass exodus from dublin is on the cards, and already the house prices in every other county are rising . So now the people in the country are being priced out of a house they already cant afford….in 20 years time we will still be trying to deal with this housing crises……
@Brendan Hoey: Decentralisation will ultimately be very positive for the country and finally take the focus away from Dublin.
@Brendan Hoey: but local businesses will benefit. Hairdressers, shops, garages, cafes…
@Brendan Hoey: if a 2-3% increase in a house price (outside the pale) puts it outside your price range, then you would really have been living on the limit to pay the mortgage in the first place. This is a win win situation for the whole country, It means more will get spent on services outside Dublin, while reducing house prices and rents in Dublin. It will also be good for the environment with less cars commuting.
@SC: that’s got absolutely nothing to do with the rising house prices outside of dublin…..thousands of people around the country are already waiting for houses to be built. And now thousands more from dublin coming to join the que..dont forget the local authority housing lists are 10 years long in some counties ….local businesses will prosper no doubt but schools are already full all over the country so more will have to be built…and all this needs to be achieved by an incompetent government. Best of luck trying to find your utopia down the country!
@Brendan Hoey: I don’t think professionals that are leaving Dublin to work from home outside the capital will be joining local authority housing lists. The easiest way to increase social housing stock is for developers to build more housing estates, where a percentage are handed over to local authorities. If there is an increase in potential customers for new houses, then developers will look to build them, resulting in more social houses. If everyone stayed in Dublin, then the schools would still need to be built, but in Dublin.
@Frank Carty: that’s what happens at the minute frank…so when the local authority get their percentage of new builds , then the greedy landlords gobble up their share for the rental market , what happens to the small percentage of houses that are left for people to buy????
somebody stop the landlords or ireland will loose most of its skilled workforce
There’s only 11 properties available for rent in the entire county of Offaly. No wonder the rents are going up
Let’s look at the source of this problem. Without mass immigration, these greedy landlords would not be able to take advantage of people, like that Dublin landlord who stuffed 12 Brazilians into one house and bragged about it on social media.
@Barry Cahill: If the economy requires so many immigrants to function, the state should take some responsibility for making sure they are not exploited the way they are.
We are treating them like an underclass.
@Barry Cahill: also….Brazilians stuff themselves in gaffs and dont give a fiddlers…..
….other side of coin.
@SC: The economy doesn’t require mass immigration. Multinational companies do to keep wages at a certain level. The central bank surprisingly came out with a report a year or two ago admitting it.
‘asking’
Is this based on contract price or advertising price?
how has the Economist missed that vital word?
@ConPhoto: it’s based off asking. He didn’t miss it, but this is done in partnership with Daft who only have access to the asking price for rents so that is what it is based off.
I do think that should be made much clearer though.
Are all landlords evil or is it just some? Trying to figure out if I’m an evil landlord or not? Any specific criteria I need to meet?
Prices are still ridiculous
Mass immigration destroys nations.
If rent is rising at 5.4% outside of Dublin, how ineffective is the Rent Pressure Zone???
have your say