Rents on the rise nationally

The average rent nationwide is now 9 per cent higher than it was at the same stage last year according to the latest quarterly Rental Report by Daft.ie Rents rose in every county outside Connacht and Ulster, with the biggest annual increase of 14 per cent occurring in Dublin city centre. The average rent nationwide is now €888, up €69 from the trough in 2011. Rents rose in all city centres, with Cork and Galway cities experiencing a 6 per cent rise, Limerick 5 per cent, and Waterford 1 per cent. Rents in Dublin’s neighbouring counties of Wicklow and Kildare also witnessed a significant increase of 9 per cent. Outside of the cities, rents rose by an average of 4 per cent, whilst the number of properties available for rent is now under 4,000 – down from 11,000 two years ago. Westmeath and west Leinster In the Midlands counties of Laois, Westmeath, Offaly, and Longford, rents rose by an average of 3.4 per cent in the year to March 2014, compared to static rents a year previously. In Westmeath, rents were on average 4 per cent higher in the first quarter of 2014 than a year previously. The average advertised rent is now €588, a fall of 22 per cent from the peak. Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, economist at TCD and author of the Daft report, said: “This latest Daft.ie report shows that the housing crisis in Dublin is getting worse. The solution is not capping rents, which will limit the supply of new homes, but rather addressing the underlying problems, in particular streamlining the cost of land and of regulation.” Year-on-year change in rents - major cities, Q1 2014 Dublin: €1,289, up 14.0 per cent Cork: €848, up 6.2 per cent Galway: €828, up 5.6 per cent Limerick: €672, up 5.4 per cent Waterford: €601, up 1.4 per cent The full report is available from www.daft.ie/report and includes a commentary by Ronan Lyons, Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin, and author of the Daft report, as well as an analysis of affordability and statistics on residential yields around the country.