Rents are now higher than in the boom time

THE cost of renting has rocketed to more than €1,000 a month nationally – with Dublin prices now over €1,500.

The average cost of renting was up 6.4pc in the year to last December, according to the State’s Residential Tenancies Board.

The Greater Dublin Area experienced the greatest rent pressure with a surge of 7.5pc in accommodation costs.

Costs are above the highs they reached before the housing bubble burst a decade ago. Rents for Dublin houses are now 8pc higher than the pre-crisis peak and apartments are 14pc higher.

And the figures show the pressure on rental costs in Dublin is spreading to neighbouring commuter counties. It now costs €1,100 to rent in the Greater Dublin Area, which takes in Meath, Wicklow and Kildare.

In Dublin, the average costs of a new rental tenancy is above €1,500 a month, as restricted supply and population growth combine to put the squeeze on those depending on the private rental market.

THE pressure on rental costs in Dublin is now spreading to its neighbouring commuter counties.

New figures show it now costs more than €1,000 a month nationally to rent a property, while in Dublin the figure is more than €1,500.

The average cost of renting was up 6.4pc in the year to last December, according to the State’s Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

The Greater Dublin Area experienced the greatest rent pressure with a surge of 7.5pc in accommodation costs.

Costs are above the highs they reached before the housing bubble burst a decade ago.

In Dublin the average costs of a new rental tenancy has hit an average of €1,511 a month, as restricted supply and population growth combine to put the squeeze on those depending on the private rental market.

The national average cost is now €1,054 a month, up from €990 a year earlier, according to the Residential Tenancies Board and the Economic and Social Research Institute, which compiled the report.

It now costs €1,100 to rent in the Greater Dublin Area, which takes in Meath, Wicklow and Kildare. Outside Dublin, the national average monthly rent is just short of €800 in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the same period a year earlier.

The figures reflect the cost of new tenancies, and do not capture existing agreements which may be benefiting from the restrictions on increases in the rent pressure zones.

The surge in accommodation costs is also reflected in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick as urban areas see the highest demand. The average rental cost in Galway is just over €1,000, with Limerick rents at close to €870 a month.

However, despite the notable rise, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy welcomed the RTB report saying it showed reductions in the rate of inflation across both national and Dublin rents. “We are seeing essentially a slowdown in the quarterly growth rate in Dublin rents according to this index. New rents increased by only 1.1pc towards the end of the year.”

The minister said this is the lowest annual growth rate since 2013 and was evidence Rent Pressure Zones were working – even though the report specifically reflected new tenancies.

Residential Tenancies Board director Rosalind Carroll said despite the cost of renting continuing to rise, there was evidence of a slowdown in the rate of growth in Dublin, Cork and nationally.

She said although the rate of increase was 6.4pc in the quarter up to the end of last year, this had slowed from the previous quarter and the last time the annual growth rate in new rents was below this level was in 2014.

“The report shows that in the Dublin rental market, rents continue to increase (from €1,494 in Q3 to €1,511), however, the quarter-on-quarter growth rate at 1.1pc has slowed compared to the previous quarters,” she said.

But she admitted that the pressure on rents in Dublin is now spreading out to the wider Greater Dublin Area.

‘We are seeing essentially a slowdown in the quarterly growth rate in Dublin rents according to this index’