Average monthly rent nationally increases 5% to over €1,800

Muireann Duffy

The average monthly rent on the open market nationally increased by 4.9 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024.

The latest Daft.ie rental price report found the average monthly rent for a property on the open market rose to €1,836 in Q1, rising 0.6 per cent on the previous three-month period.

This represents the 13th consecutive quarter in which rents increased.

The research found rent inflation has steadied nationwide, with rents in Dublin increasing by 2.5 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2023, while rents outside of Dublin were up 7.2 per cent.

Limerick City saw one of the sharpest increases in the space of a year, as rents there soared by 17.5 per cent.

Increases in other cities outside the capital were less substantial, with Cork, Waterford, and Galway reporting rises of 8, 6.9 and 5 per cent respectively.

The report noted the availability of units on the open rental market remains low.

Although availability had almost doubled between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023, stock has "fallen considerably" since the start of 2024.

On May 1st, just over 2,000 properties were available for rent, "effectively unchanged on the same date a year previously and well below half the 2015-2019 average of almost 4,400", the research found.

"Rental inflation has slowed considerably over the last 18 months, driven in large part by the construction of significant numbers of new rental homes in the Dublin area," Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin, Ronan Lyons, said.

"More supply, even at the upper end of the market, relieves pressures across the market and, in the second half of 2023 in particular, new supply saw availability improve and inflation has eased."

However, he added that improvements in the availability of rental properties seem to have stalled.

"Without additional increases in rental supply, any pressure on rents is likely to be upward in nature, further straining affordability for those on regular incomes.

"For that reason, policymakers must develop a thorough understanding of rental supply dynamics ahead of a detailed plan on dramatically increasing rental supply over the rest of the decade," Mr Lyons warned.