Rents up by 11.5 per cent in county

RENTS were on average 11.5 per cent higher in County Wicklow in the third quarter of 2017 than a year previously, according to the latest quarterly rental price report by Daft.ie.

According to the report, this is due to a shortage in accommodation available.

This was slightly higher than the national figure of 11.2 per cent.

The average advertised rent in the county is now €1,236, up 60 per cent from its lowest point in 2008.

That breaks down to an average of €913 for a one-bed property, and an increase of 15.1 per cent; €1,058 for a two-bed, up by 14.4 per cent; €1,268 for a three-bed, up by 13.7 per cent; €1,379 for a four-bed, up by 13.6 per cent, and for a five-bed it’s €1,404, up by 3 per cent.

There were 3,365 properties available to rent nationwide on November 1.

This is the lowest number ever recorded for this time of year, since the series started in 2006 and the total marks a 16 per cent decrease on the same number a year previously.

In Dublin, there were just 1,300 homes available to rent, compared to more than 6,700 on the same date in 2009.

Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft Report, said: ‘Rents continue to rise, and rise at close to record rates, due to an acute and worsening shortage of accommodation.

‘Four of the five largest quarterly increases in rents have now occurred since the start of 2016 and rents in 46 of the 54 markets covered in the report now exceed their Celtic Tiger highs.

‘It is now increasingly agreed that the country needs at least 40,000 and probably closer to 50,000 new homes a year, to meet underlying demand.

‘As Ireland catches up with its peers in terms of demographics and urbanisation, the construction effort should focus on apartments, of all types, in major urban areas. What is stopping that from happening is how high costs are relative to our own incomes. Caps on rent increases may help sitting tenants but are at best of no consequence in solving the underlying challenge.’

Activity and demand in the rental market also remains high.