Sinn Féin says Government has ‘no plan’ as rents increase twice as fast in areas outside Dublin

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

The Government has “no plan for a private rent sector spiralling out of control”, Sinn Féin has claimed, as rents for new tenancies outside the Dublin area increased by almost twice the rate as those in the capital at the end of last year.

On Thursday, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) published its rent index for the final quarter of 2023, which found homes outside the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) experienced their highest annual growth on record during this time.

It comes as new statistics show that the cost of rent has gone up by 5.9 per cent in existing tenancies and 9.1 per cent for new renters in the last year.

There was also a 31 per cent drop in new tenancy registrations in the last three months of the year compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Q4 2023 Rent Index Report by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin O Broin said rents “continue to spiral out of control” and “supply continues to contract”.

The figures for each geographic area in the report, which were independently analysed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), use a measure of “standardising” rents to account for changes in property types over time.

Nationally, new rents are now €16,488 a year and existing rents are €19,140.

This breaks down to average new rents in Dublin being €25,176 a year and existing rents at €21,660 per annum in the capital.

Outside Dublin, new rents now cost on average €15,360 and existing rents €12,612.

Mr O Broin said: “How are regular working people expected to afford these rents? How are they to save for a deposit to buy a home? Month-on-month, year-on-year, rents continue to rise for new and existing tenants, inside and outside rent pressure zones (RPZs).”

Rents in an RPZ cannot be increased by more than 2 per cent per annum pro rata or if it is lower, by the increase in the rate of inflation as recorded by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP).

With some exemptions, this restriction applies to new and existing tenancies in RPZs.

The RTB said the quarterly report is not to be interpreted as a measure of compliance with the RPZ rules.

However, Mr O Broin said “here is also mounting evidence of significant non-compliance” with the annual 2 per cent cap in RPZs.

“While the RTB report doesn’t address the scale of compliance it does give them the data to investigate and enforce.

“It is clear that the Government has no plan for a private rental sector spiralling out of control. Their renters tax credit is simply not enough. We need an emergency ban on rent increases for three years and a full month’s rent back in every private renter’s pocket.

“But, more importantly, we need the Government to dramatically increase investment in and delivery of genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy.

“Last year just 100,000 affordable homes were delivered by the Government and many of these were too expensive for most working people.”