Advertised rents rose by just 0.6% between January and the end of March, new data from the property listings website Daft.ie shows.
It meant that average rent sought in the first quarter was €1,836 per month, an increase of 4.9% on the same period last year.
That is the lowest annual rate of asking price inflation seen in three years and significantly lower that the 14.1% recorded in the middle of 2022.
According to the author of the Daft.ie rental report, Ronan Lyons, that overall national decline in the rate of increase in rents has been driven by more multi-unit development supply coming onto the market in Dublin.
He added that there are early signs that something similar is happening in other markets.
In Munster, outside its three cities for example, rents were effectively unchanged in the first quarter of this year compared to the last three months of last year.
“More supply, even at the upper end of the market, relieves pressures across the market and, in the second half of 2023 in particular, new supply saw availability improve and inflation has eased,” said Mr Lyons who is also Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin.
“However, improvements in the availability of homes to rent look to have stalled. Without additional increases in rental supply, any pressure on rents is likely to be upward in nature, further straining affordability for those on regular incomes.”
“For that reason, policymakers must develop a thorough understanding of rental supply dynamics ahead of a detailed plan on dramatically increasing rental supply over the rest of the decade.”
The report also shows that on May 1st, just over 2,000 homes were available to rent, effectively unchanged on the same date a year previously and well below half the 2015-2019 average of almost 4,400.
However, Daft is just one of a number of places where properties are advertised for rent and some properties are rented without being advertised at all.
In Dublin, market rents in the first quarter were 2.5% higher than a year previously.
The average increase outside Dublin was 7.2% year-on-year, reflecting a lower rate of inflation than before.
In Galway city, rents were up 5% year-on-year to €1,861, while in Waterford and Cork cities, the increases were 6.9% and 8% respectively.
However, in Limerick city, market rents were up 17.5% year-on-year to €1,933, one of the largest increases in the country.
Article Source – Pace of rise in advertised rents slowed in first quarter – Daft – RTE
