The return of thousands of Airbnb properties to the rental market has done little to drop prices around the country.

The average rent around the country rose by 1.2% between June and September this year, according to the latest rental report from Daft.ie.

Rents in Dublin remained relatively stable, falling by just 0.8% in the year to September.

The average listed rent in Dublin is now €2,028 – up 102% from its lowest point in 2011.

The average rent around the country is now €1,419 – up 1.2% on the same period in 2019 and 91% higher than its lowest point in 2011.

   

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, report author Ronan Lyons said the return of thousands of AirBnB properties to the rental market during COVID-19 made very little difference to overall prices.

“All that got us was 2,000 or 3,000 extra rental units,” he said.

“How many jobs did we lose by destroying the short-term tourism market?

“At the end of the day, Dublin alone is short about 60,000 or 70,000 rental units and the rest of the country is probably something similar on top.

“So, in a country that is short maybe 120,000 or 130,000 rental units, I am not sure the gain of destroying the short-term lettings market was worth it.”

He said it will take decades to bring enough supply to satisfy the market.

“COVID will come and COVID will hopefully go but we still have a rental market around the country that is missing supply and desperately needs policy makers to pay attention to it,” he said.

“Not just market rental but social rental as well in order to ensure the supply is there.

“This is not going away. This a 20, 30 or 40-year issue in terms of the demographics so we need to make sure we can get that supply that is needed.”

The largest rent increases were recorded in cities outside Dublin.

• Dublin City: €2,028 – down 0.8%
• Cork City: €1,443 – up 5.2%
• Galway City: €1,363 – up 4.9%
• Limerick City: €1,260 – up 3.4%
• Waterford City: €1,058 – up 5%

There were 4,200 rental properties on the market around the country on November 1st – down 17% on last year.

In Dublin, there were 2,700 properties available – almost twice as many as this time, last year, when there was 1,400.

The 1,435 properties available outside Dublin as the lowest figure recorded since Daft began its research 15 years ago.