Minister for Housing James Browne said he “certainly” expects rents to fall following the introduction of changes to the rental market that come into effect from this weekend.
Browne said it was “not realistic to put a day or time” on when exactly rents may fall as the “markets are very dynamic”.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland on Friday, he said: “Rents can of course fall under these rules”.
From this Sunday, March 1st, landlords whose properties become vacant will be able to reset rents to market rates. There will be no changes for existing leases.
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New tenancies after March 1st will also be subject to a minimum duration of six years in an effort to give greater security of tenure to tenants.
Defending the measures, Browne said increasing supply was “the only way we are going to make rent affordable”.
The Minister acknowledged there was a rental and homelessness crisis “driven by supply” and the Government was doing “everything we can to drive supply”.
The Government is putting a record €9 billion into housing supply in 2026, he said, but about €20bn per year in investment was required.
“The rest of that needs to come from the private sector, and we are creating that framework through putting in the strongest tenancy measures in the history of the State, while giving the market and investors certainty as well, so we can drive that supply, so people can have the homes they need, because that’s what drives me,” he said.
The Fianna Fáil TD said if the Government didn’t do something, “rents will rise and supply will not rise”.
“That’s the guarantee, we know that,” he added. “We know that from the last few years, we know apartment supply, for example, collapsed. What we have to do here is take action. Not taking action is not an option.”
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Browne said he was faced with a number of options.
“If we continue with one of the most restrictive rent control measures, which was on a rolling, temporary basis, we know we were not going to get the supply, but rents were going to continue to rise,” he said.
“So what I’ve introduced are balanced measures to control rent while also driving supply.”
Browne said for the first time in the history of the State new tenants would have security of tenure, which was important.
“What that means for those tenancies is that they have a right to stay in their rented property and not to be forced out unfairly,” he said.
“At the moment ... it is easier for landlords to remove tenancies. We are for the first time, which is normal across Europe, bringing in that strength of rights for tenants.”
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