The recently published Daft.ie property rental price report for Q1 2022 has noted that premiums in Westmeath were, on average, 12.8 percent higher in the first quarter of the calendar year than at the same period in 2021.
With just 29 homes available to rent in the Midlands region, this figure represents the lowest number of properties on record for such a purpose. The average listed rent is now €1222, up 121 percent from its lowest point.
Nationwide, rents in the first quarter of 2022 were an average of 11.7 percent higher than the same period a year earlier, according to the latest report.
The average market rent nationwide between January and March was €1,567 per month, up 2.8 percent on the last three months of 2021 and more than double the low of €765 per month seen in late 2011.
While there have been differences in regional trends in rents in recent quarters, the rate of increase was similar across all major regions between early 2021 and early 2022.
In Dublin, market rents rose by 10.6% year-on-year, while in Cork and Galway cities, rents rose by 10.2 percent and 13.8 percent. Inflation was higher in Limerick and Waterford cities, at 15.5 percent and 16.2 percent respectively, while outside the cities the average increase was 12.7 percent. The sharp increase in market rents around the country reflects a significant worsening in the record scarcity of rental homes.
Nationwide, there were just 851 homes available to rent on May 1s, down from over 3,600 a year ago and another new all-time low in a series that extends back over fifteen years to 2006. The recent fall in homes to rent is seen in all regions of the country, with an 81 percent fall in availability in Dublin and a 66 percent fall elsewhere in the country.
The report also includes an analysis of 72 multi-unit rental developments, which are estimated to have added at least 400 new rental homes in the last six months. Of these, it is estimated that 82 percent are already occupied, with occupancy in the wider multi-unit rental sector estimated to be 95 percent in early May, up from 93 percent six months ago.
The report also includes an estimate of the trend in rents for sitting tenants since 2010, as compared to new tenants paying market rates. While inflation in market rents is currently above 10 percent, and market rents have doubled over the past decade, ‘stayer’ rents have increased by just 1.5 percent over the past year and by less than 40 percent over the past ten years.
“The latest figures confirm the overall strength of demand for rental accommodation in Ireland. While strong demand for housing reflects underlying economic health, it becomes a challenge when there is inadequate supply to meet it. In Ireland’s case, the economy has suffered from an under-provision of new rental accommodation for over a decade.
"As a result, market rents have doubled and, as shown in this latest report, rental homes have become unbelievably scarce. New figures confirm that sitting tenants have experienced much smaller increases in rents – both during 2021 and over the last ten years. Thus, the focus for policymakers must remain on creating the conditions for tens of thousands of new rental homes – market and social, all across the country – to be built over the coming years," Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft Report, said:
