Rents fall 25% in two years
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Thursday March 11 2010
RENTS across the country rose by just over 1% in January, according to the latest report published by the property website, Daft.ie.
This increase, while marginal, is the first time rents have risen since they began to fall 24 months ago. The national average rent now stands at €765, almost 25% below peak levels seen in early 2008.
The January increase follows sharp falls in rents during 2009. Over the course of the year, Dublin rents fell almost 19%. Rents in Cork, Limerick and Waterford cities fell by 16%, while Galway rents fell by 11%. Elsewhere in the country, rents fell by 15% on average.
Over the past two years the number of properties available to rent has increased from an average of 6,000 at any one time, to over 23,000 in August 2009. In February 2010 that number has fallen to 19,000 - a drop of 20%.
Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, economist at Daft.ie said "it is too soon to say definitively whether rents have levelled off, but the January increase does seem to be broadly consistent around the country."
He said the levelling off is most likely a result of a steady fall in the number of properties available to rent nationwide. "Over the past five months we have seen the stock of property available to rent fall by more than 20%," he added.
