Average new rents in Dublin now surpass €2,100 a month, the latest figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) show. The cost of rent for those taking up new tenancies in the first quarter rose by 8.9%, with a total of 14,085 new tenancies registered in Q1.
The average rent in new tenancies nationally was €1,544 per month during Q1, an increase of €38 or 2.5 per cent from Q4 of 2022 according to the RTB Rent Index report. In the first quarter of this year, the annualised rental inflation once again saw an increase – and is now the highest it has been since the end of 2017.
In the first three months of the year, average rent for new tenancies in Dublin reached €2,102 per month compared to €1,187 per month Outside Dublin.The standardised average rent in new tenancies in the GDA (excluding Dublin) was €1,530 while it was €1,133 Outside the greater Dublin area.
The figures also show a decrease in the number of newly registered tenancies on a year-on-year basis, with these falling by 8.2 per cent in the first three months of the year; the level of new tenancies fell to 14,085 from 15,336 in the same quarter of the previous year.
Renting a typical two-bedroom house in Dublin costs €1,922 per month, and €1,041 per month outside Dublin. The average cost of monthly rent for a two-bedroom house in the greater Dublin area and outside it was €1,354 and €985, respectively.
While Dublin saw the highest average rent for new tenancies – at €2,102 per month – Leitrim had the lowest monthly rents, sitting at €809 per month.
The lowest growth in the average rent in new tenancies on an annualised basis was in Carlow – where new tenancy rents increased by 2 per cent – while Roscommon was the highest, at 23.7 per cent. A total of 15 counties saw annualised growth in new tenancy rents above 10 per cent in the first three months of 2023.
The average monthly rent sits above €1,000 per month in 16 counties: Carlow, Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow.
The highest standardised average rent in new tenancies, focusing on the Dublin local authorities, was seen in Dún Laoghaire – Rathdown where the average rent is now €2,355 per month, while Fingal had the lowest (€1,968).
The local electoral area with the highest average rent for new tenancies was Killiney – Shankill, Dublin, where the average rent has reached €2,486. Meanwhile, the LEA with the lowest standardised average rent for new tenancies for Q1 2023 was Lifford- Stranorlar, Donegal at €686.
Year-on-year increases for new tenancies spiked in South Dublin (15 per cent) followed
by Dún Laoghaire – Rathdown (8.5 per cent). The lowest year-on-year growth rate for new tenancies within Dublin was in Fingal (5.4 per cent).
Outside of Dublin, average rent in Cork City costs €1,490 per month, which is €381 per month higher than for Cork County (€1,109).
Cork County and Cork City experienced growth rates of 4.7 and 5.0 per cent per annum, respectively, the RTB said. Meanwhile, the average rent in Galway City was €1,535 per month in Q1 2023, €374 per month higher than for Galway County (€1,161).
New rents in Waterford City saw the biggest change – with rents increasing by 15.5 per cent since 2022, to €1,171 in the first quarter of this year. This was followed by Galway City, where rents saw the second highest rate of growth (11.7 per cent) to a monthly average of €1,535.
The city which had the lowest growth rate in rents (5.0 per cent) was Cork City, where the average rent is €1,490. Monthly rent in Limerick City stood at €1,341, seeing a growth of 7.7 per cent year-on-year.
Rachel Slaymaker and Eva Shiel of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), said that the economic context was crucial in determining the drivers of rental inflation in Ireland.
“For the period covered in this report, Q1 2023, economic developments were mainly shaped by persistent inflation and continued global uncertainty.
“Despite high levels of global uncertainty and tighter financial conditions after further ECB interest rate rises to combat inflation, the pace of growth in Ireland throughout the first quarter of 2023 was stronger than had been expected. This was likely related to modest slowdowns in energy prices across Europe, full employment, and slower inflation growth relative to the second half of 2022,” they said.
Meanwhile, Dr Tricia Kielthy, Head of Social Justice at St Vincent de Paul, told RTÉ’s News At One on Thursday that the charity had seen a 14 per cent increase in calls so far this year from people looking for financial help.
She said rising rents were a factor causing stress.
“It puts a huge amount of pressure on families because when you experience a rent increase, the priority is to pay your rent,” she said.
“You want to keep a roof over your family’s head and that means you are sacrificing other areas of the family budget. Food is the most commonly requested item from SVP and that’s because it’s the one area of a family budget where people have control over.”
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