Cost of renting in Cork city 'soars'

THE cost of renting in Cork City has risen by 6.3% in the past year, while rent prices in Cork county have soared by almost 9%.

That is according to the latest report from Daft.ie, which also highlighted a fall in rents in Dublin’s city centre by 6.5%.

“In Cork City, rents have risen by 6.3% in the last year and the average rent is now €1,483,” said the report. “In the rest of Cork, rents were on average 8.7% higher in the first quarter of 2021 than a year previously. The average listed rent is now €1,137, up 95% from its lowest point.”

Rents throughout Munster have risen by an average of 8.8%. Just 238 homes in the region were available for rent on May 1, down by 30% compared to last year, said the report.

“These are massive rent hikes when you consider that a national rent freeze was meant to have been in place at the time these prices went up,” said Solidarity TD Mick Barry. 

“The mind just boggles at what might happen now that the Government have taken the handbrake off by lifting the ban. 

"If the Government stand idly by and keep allowing rent increases of this kind, then housing is the ticking time bomb that will eventually blow up this Government.”

Ronan Lyons, author of the Daft report, said: “The impact of Covid-19 on Ireland’s rental market was largely to send Dublin and the rest of the country in different directions.

“As normal life resumes over the coming months, these differences are likely to fade, and more long-standing problems — in particular, chronic undersupply of new rental homes — will be the main driver.”