Reflecting upon the recently published, Daft property report, the IPOA noted the detrimental impact which COVID-19 has had upon the rental market.
“The situation around COVID-19 has upset business in Ireland and the rental business is no exception and has also been substantially disrupted as tenants returned home in March at the commencement of lockdown and tenancies were terminated and, in some cases, abandoned.
“The lockdown restricted reletting and in spite of demand being high, Government guidelines restricted the showing of property as it was not deemed an essential service. This is likely to have resulted in properties not being let during the month of May.
“Student accommodation became vacant earlier than usual in March and traditionally some students working in the hospitality industry would have remained in accommodation.
“However, as a result of the return to work on June 8 of Letting Agents and Property Professionals, we would expect to see a more buoyant market and a massive reduction in the amount of accommodation available which may lead to shortages going forward.
“We expect the country to commence the return to work and the process of normality returning will increase demand for units and the current supply will be taken up rapidly. While there appears to be a supply surplus currently we must not forget the underlying problem of vast numbers of units being lost to the market as a result of owners getting out of the sector as a consequence of unfair complex legislation, problems with the running of the units and the lack of fair taxation,” Stephen Faughnan, IPOA Chairman, detailed.
