According to a survey from real estate website Daft, market rents increased by an average of 1% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the final three months of 2022, which is the smallest increase since 2020.
Between January and March, the average market rent countrywide was €1,750 per month, up from €1,387 in the first quarter of 2020 and barely €765 in late 2011.
In the first quarter of this year, rentals varied significantly between regions, according to Daft’s Q1 Rent Report for 2023.
Rent increases in Dublin were similar to those in the rest of Leinster and were 0.5% quarter over quarter.
In contrast, rents decreased by an average of 1.8% in the other four cities during the first quarter.
Since the last quarter of 2013, rentals in Cork City have not increased quarterly for the first time in over a decade.
Outside of the cities, in Munster, Connacht, and Ulster, rents rose significantly in the first quarter of the year, on average by 3.8%.
On May 1, there were just 959 houses available for rent across the country.
This marks one of the three lowest totals for availability at the beginning of the month in a period dating back to the beginning of 2006. It is up 13% from the same day last year, but it is still below average overall.
About one-fourth of the average level of rental housing availability from 2015 to 2019 is now available.
According to a Daft poll of renters, average rent increases for sitting tenants over the past year have been 4.1%, with percentage hikes outside of Dublin being higher than those in the city.
Since the introduction of Rent Pressure Zones in 2016, rents of sitting tenants have increased by roughly 20% on average, compared to an average increase in open-market rents of three quarters over the same period.
Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the report, said:
“The private rental market has been under increasing stress over the last two years, as first society reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine led to a refugee crisis.”
“There are some signs that, if things are not getting better, then they are getting much worse. Availability of homes to rent has stopped falling, albeit at extremely low levels, while the quarterly change in rents seen January to March was far smaller than the average increase seen in 2021 and 2022.”
“Nonetheless, the solution to Ireland’s rental housing shortage requires significant action by policymakers. The number of rental homes coming on to the market in newly-built developments has held up in recent months but is likely to reduce in the quarters ahead, unless issues around planning certainty and viability are addressed.
“Ultimately, policymakers must have a clear plan on how tens of thousands of new rental homes will be delivered this decade in all major towns and cities.”
Average rents in Dublin were €2,337, up 11.2% year-on-year, while Cork city was €1,731, (up 7.7%) and Galway city’s average was €1,772 (up 11.8%).