An analysis of recent trends in the Irish residential property market at the end of Q3 of this year by the property website, Daft.ie, has noted that while rental inflation is now at a six year low, rents in County Westmeath are on average, 7.7 percent higher than at this time in 2018.
Encompassing the Midlands region, rents increased by an average of seven percent in the year to September 2019 and are now 36 percent above their previous peak in early 2008. The average rent now paid for a residential property in County Westmeath is €999, up 99 percent from its lowest point.
The average rent now payable for a three bedroom house in County Westmeath is now €964, while a four bedroom residential property is averagely priced at €1,051 per month.
Meanwhile, renting a two bedroom residential apartment in County Westmeath will cost you an average monthly rental premium of €726.
Nationally, rents increased by an average of 5.2 percent in the year to September 2019. This marks the lowest rate of rental inflation across the country since the second quarter of 2013.
However, at €1,403, the average monthly rent nationwide during the third quarter of 2019 marks the fourteenth consecutive quarter of record rents. The average listed rent is now €373 per month higher than the previous peak in 2008 and almost €660 higher than the low seen in late 2011.
Inflation has also slowed in the province of Leinster, with rents 4.3 percent higher than a year ago, down from inflation of 10% or more between 2014 and 2018.
The number of homes available to rent nationwide is up 10 percent from the same date a year ago. This marks the eleventh time in twelve months that rental availability nationally has improved, albeit from record lows. Despite the increase this still amounts to only 3,500 rental homes for the whole country. The improvement in supply has spread somewhat outside Dublin – almost half of the additional 328 properties on the market on November 1, compared to a year previously, were in Leinster, but outside Dublin.
“Over the last decade, Ireland’s rental market has experienced a persistent and worsening shortage. Only in recent months have signs emerged of any improvement in this situation. The last Rental Report highlighted the new supply coming on stream over the coming years – roughly 25,000 new rental homes in Dublin and Cork. And this report has found both improved availability and lower inflation.
“Nonetheless, rents continue to climb and from a base where they are already high compared to wages. As has been the case throughout the last ten years, there is no quick-fix regulatory solution for the sector. Rather, fixing it will involve the construction of tens of thousands of new rental homes every year for the foreseeable future,” Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft Report, remarked, on the figures revealed.
