Dublin rents hit record high after 10% rise nationwide

The cost of renting a home countrywide jumped by almost 10 per cent in the 12 months to the end of July with rents in Dublin reaching record levels.

The average monthly cost of renting in Dublin at the end of the second quarter of the year was €113 higher than 12 months earlier.

The increase means that someone signing a 12-month lease now will pay €1,356 more over the course of next year than they would have paid a year earlier.

According to the latest figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), Dublin rents are now at an all-time high, and 3.9 per cent higher than the previous peak which was recorded in the last quarter of 2007.

Dramatic increases have not been confined to the Dublin region, however, and have also been reported in other parts of the country.

While rents are increasing outside the capital, they are still 11.2 per cent off their peak levels.

Authoritative report

The figures come from the RTB’s Quarterly Rent Index compiled by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

It is widely regarded as the most accurate and authoritative rent report of its kind on the private accommodation sector and is based on 22,103 new tenancies which started in April, May and June this year and were registered with the RTB.

It reflects the actual rents being paid, according to the RTB’s records, as distinct from the asking or advertised rent.

On a national basis, rents were 9.9 per cent higher in the second quarter this year compared to the same period last year. In cash terms average rents were up from €869 to €956.

Rents for houses were 9.3 per cent higher, up from €850 to €929, while apartment rents were 11.7 per cent higher than in the same quarter of 2015, up from €908 to €1,014.

Annual growth in the Dublin market was also strong, up by 9 per cent from €1,251 to €1,364. Dublin house rents were up by 7.5 per cent from €1,388 to €1,492, while apartment rents were 9.8 per cent higher – up from €1,246 to €1,368.

Annual growth in rents for the market outside Dublin recorded increases of 10.6 per cent when compared to the three months to the end of July 2015, up from €669 to €740.

Again the performance differed by property type with monthly rent for houses outside Dublin going up by 9.9 per cent – from €688 to €756 – while apartments outside Dublin saw an increase of 12.7 per cent from €647 to €729.

National increases

Turning to the quarter-on-quarter picture, the index shows that at a national level monthly rent levels rose in the second quarter of this year by 3.6 per cent when compared with three months earlier. This compared to a growth rate of just 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2016.

Monthly rents for houses and apartments nationally showed a similar rate of increase but in Dublin the rate of increase for apartments (at 5.4 per cent) was higher than that for houses (3.1 per cent).

The index shows that, nationally, rents peaked in the second quarter of 2007, before declining by 25.4 per cent to their trough at the start of 2012.

By the end of July this year rents nationally were 5.7 per cent lower than their peak.