Murphy admits rents are too high as average cost spirals to €1,094
Embattled Housing Minister pledges action to help hard-hit families
RENTS have shot up again, in a trend that piles even more pressure on Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.
The cost of accommodation rose by close to 8pc across the country in the last year, official figures show.
The average rent nationwide is now €1,094. This is up almost €80 in the last year.
In Dublin, city rents rose by 9.5pc, to almost €1,600 on average, according to the Residential Tenancies Board.
A chronic shortage of accommodation is forcing up rents and hitting families hard.
Despite the stark figures, Mr Murphy insisted that rents for existing tenants “seem to be in line” with rent pressure zones.
However, the minister, who survived a no-confidence vote over his handling of the housing crisis on Tuesday, admitted that people are paying too much rent and the market will need to be better controlled.
He added: “I will shortly be introducing new rent protection measures in to the Dail. I’ll also continue to pursue measures to see longer leases and tenant protections when properties are sold.
“And of course homesharing will be tackled in the very near future.”
The figures from the RTB show that new tenancies are rising in cost the fastest, up 8.4pc in the last year. But existing tenancies have become close to 5pc more expensive year on year.
Dublin and the greater Dublin area now account for over half of all tenancy agreements in Ireland.
The cost of renting in the capital is now €1,587 a month, a rise of €128 a month on the last year.
The average rent for outside the Greater Dublin Area stood at €817, up from €768 year-onyear. The annual growth rate for outside the Greater Dublin area was 6.3pc.
Cork City had the second highest rents at €1,123 per month. Galway City standardised average rents stood at €1,065 for the second quarter of this year.
Rents in Limerick City were €880, and rents in Waterford City were €646. In the larger cities, Cork’s annual change was 6.2pc, compared with Dublin at 9.5pc.
Limerick saw a rent surge of 12.4pc.
Director of the Residential Tenancies Board Rosalind Carroll said affordability remains a significant issue in the rental market.
She said continued economic and population growth was contributing to rising demand.
“We can see rents have continued to increase with growth rates back up in Dublin,” she added.
Accommodation cost rises in the 21 rent pressure zones are restricted by law to 4pc.
Ms Carroll said that a new analysis carried by the Tenancies Board shows that rises in the zones of 4.9pc was roughly in line with the permitted rental rises.
The figures came as the Department of Housing said the number of households in need of social housing support has dropped by more than 16pc in just over a year.
Some 71,858 households were assessed as being in need of a home in June this year, down 13,941 on the same period of 2017.
The four Dublin local authorities account for 43pc of the entire national list.
Mr Murphy yesterday denied a deal was struck with junior health minister Catherine Byrne to get her support ahead of the no-confidence vote against him.
He insisted his colleagues in Government have faith in him to address the growing housing crisis. However, he gave no explanation for Ms Byrne’s change of heart.
Sources had said she was considering backing the Sinn Féin motion against Mr Murphy’s handling of the homeless crisis. Ms Byrne did not respond to a request for comment last night.