Rental prices show continued surge across Ireland

DUBLIN, Ireland: The latest official statistics from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) reveal a continued surge in rental prices across Ireland, with nearly 30 percent of new tenancies surpassing 2,000 euros per month.

In Dublin, over half of new tenancies exceeded this threshold.

Published recently, the RTB's rental index for the third quarter of 2023 underscores an ongoing upward trend in rental costs for both new and existing tenancies. While the rate of increase in new tenancy rents slowed slightly to 11 percent annually, down from 11.5 percent in the previous quarter, the national standardized average rent for new tenancies climbed to 1,598 euros per month, representing an 1580-euro increase from the previous year.

Comparatively, existing tenancies, lasting at least one year, averaged 1,357 euros per month-240 euros lower than new tenancies. This marks a 17.7 percent disparity between new and existing tenancy rents over the three months, although significant variations exist across counties.

"At the higher end, we would see the gap in Donegal would be 39 percent, which would be a very large difference there. Some 987 euros for new tenancies standardized average rents, compared to 708 euros for existing tenants," said Rachel Slaymaker, of the Economic and Social Research Institute.

"Similarly Wexford, a gap of 328 euros between new tenants and existing tenants. That is a gap of about 38 percent. The smallest gap is actually found in Kildare . . . that is a difference of about 13.5 percent."

While annualized rental inflation remains high for new tenancies, particularly outside the Greater Dublin Area, existing tenancy rents have grown at less than half the rate of new tenancies annually and below the Consumer Price Index.

Notably, nearly 30 percent of new tenancy rents nationwide exceeded 2,000 euros per month, compared to 15.5 percent for existing tenancies. Moreover, a significant portion of new and existing tenancies-13.6 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively-had monthly rents surpassing 2,500 euros.

In Dublin, over half of new tenancies paid more than 2,000 euros monthly, in contrast to just over 30 percent of existing tenancies. The RTB clarified that its existing tenancy rent index encompasses properties outside of rent-pressure zones (RPZs) and cannot be solely relied upon to monitor landlord compliance with RPZ price increase caps.

Lucia Crimin, deputy director of the RTB, said, "The RTB is responsible for ensuring there is compliance by landlords with their legal obligations, including registering tenancies and setting rent amounts correctly."