Every year, student accommodation becomes an issue as many new to courses find somewhere to live for the new academic term.
On top of high rents and limited supply, Gardaí have now issued a warning about increasing incidences of rental scams in that student market.
Newstalk’s Jessica Woodlock has been investigating and spoke to The Pat Kenny Show about her findings.
“I’ve been reaching out to student unions that have told me their inboxes are literally full with people still looking for accommodation with just a couple of weeks to go [until the start of term].
“This is affecting all levels of students, from first years to final years - all the way up to doctorate level.”
Student accommodation
L. Sage Alloway, a final-year PhD student at the University of Galway, spoke to us about the situation where she is.
“Realistically, anywhere in Galway right now is more than you should almost pay for a mortgage,” Ms. Alloway says.
“It’s caused a lot of frustration because we're supposed to be focusing on our final year studies, and we’re not because we don’t know where we’re going to be living.”
Ms. Alloway has been unsuccessful in finding accommodation but is still on the lookout.
“We’re having to look at places that are an hour out from the university, considering places like Gort, Athlone or Tuam”.
The Residential Tenancies Board have launched an investigation into Galway city in recent months.
"They found that census figures for the number of students living there, don’t even nearly match up with what’s been registered officially.
“Gardaí are also warning [students] about landlords refusing to meet you in person, creating a sense of urgency, and asking for money through Revolut, cash or a wire."
Emily Cathcart from DCU Student Union spoke about the situation in Dublin specifically.
“One of our biggest pieces of advice for domestic students is to try and visit a property in person to make sure it’s not a scam.”
Ms. Cathcart spoke about one scam that was brought to her attention by an international student.
“A student was being asked for four months’ rent upfront plus a deposit, and when we looked into it, the student residence did not exist, the website was fake, and the location didn’t exist on student maps.”
Student accommodation is in short supplyImage: CW Images / Alamy Stock Photo
The prices for student accommodation are soaring around the country.
Maynooth University is around €7,000, Galway is in the range of €9,000 and in Dublin students will be paying anywhere from €6,500 to €12,000.
These prices are for the academic year of up to nine months.
The highest prices were at UCD Belfield campus, where we spoke to UCD Student Union President Michael Roche.
“There are students that commute massive distances every day, about two or three hours.
Mr. Roche says that “being a student is so much more than being inside a lecture theatre and there is a certain group of students that are being locked out of this experience simply because they can’t afford the accommodation.”
The National Development Plan has committed to funding in this area, but the issue remains that demand is higher than supply.
CEO of Property District, Carol Tallon, says that there are moves being made to remedy this problem: “We have a strong pipeline of student accommodation under construction as there's about 1,400 under construction right now.
“We found out last Christmas that there would be an emergency response of about 1,000 student beds.
"However, only last month we found out that only 116 of these 1,000 promised beds across campus universities had actually been delivered.
“That generally just illustrates the delivery lag between funding and the physical output that we’re facing in 2025."
Written by Cara McHugh
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