Rents in Dublin are beginning to stabilise with figures revealing the rate of increase has slowed significantly.
The latest Daft.ie Rental Report shows the rate of increase in Dublin was 2.6% during 2023, compared to an average increase outside of the capital of 10.6%.
Rents in Cork and Waterford cities rose by between 7% and 8% during the year, while those in Galway and Limerick cities wnt up by 11.3% and 14% respectively.
Source: DaftNationally, market rents rose by an average of 6.8% last year. This compares with an increase of 13.7% seen during 2022 and 10.3% in 2021.
Outside the cities, the smallest annual increase was seen in Dublin's commuter counties (7.5%) - while the largest increase was seen in the three Ulster counties, where market rents were almost 17% higher than a year earlier.
Average market rents, and year-on-year change, 2023 Q4
- Dublin: €2,384, up 2.6% year-on-year
- Cork city: €1,907, up 7.9%
- Galway city: €1,999, up 11.3%
- Limerick city: €1,907, up 14%
- Waterford city: €1,537, up 7.4%
- Rest of the country: €1,489, up 10.8%
The average open-market rent nationwide in the final quarter was €1,850 per month, compared to €1,365 per month seen at the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020.
Author of the report Ronan Lyons says new rental builds in Dublin is driving the decrease.
"The construction of significant amounts of new homes to rent in Dublin over the last two years is reflected in the near-disappearance of inflation in market rents in the capital," he said.
"This is a welcome reminder that the basic economics of supply and demand work in rental markets and thus that new supply is the answer to strong rental demand.
"However there has been almost no new rental accommodation built outside Dublin, where acute rental shortage also exist.
"The pipeline of rental projects in Dublin is likely to slow in 2024 and beyond," he added.
Nationally, the number of homes available to rent increased by 937 between October 2022 and December 2023.
Some 80% of that increase was seen in the Dublin area, while almost all the rest was seen in surrounding areas.
