Persistently high rents in Galway to be investigated amid ‘unusual’ trends in data

Tomas Doherty

Persistently high rents in Co Galway will be investigated by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) following "unusual" trends noted in its latest rental index.

The RTB said Galway had experienced eight consecutive quarters of high growth in rent prices for new tenancies. Galway city and other parts of the county are rent pressure zones, meaning rents cannot be increased by more than 2 per cent per year.

A statement from the RTB said it would engage directly with renters, landlords and other rental sector stakeholders in Galway this June to investigate the trend further. It will also host a forum to address rental law compliance.

According to the RTB's latest rent index, the average monthly rent for new tenancies in Galway City was €1,730 in the fourth quarter of last year.

Nationally, the standardised average rent for new tenancies rose by 5.5 per cent year-on-year to €1,680 in the final three months of 2024. It rose by 4.6 per cent year-on-year for existing tenancies nationally to €1,440 in Q4 2024.

The RTB said this was "a moderation" on the rates of rent increases seen earlier in 2024.

The board also published eight sanctions against landlords based in Galway for breaches of rental law.

Seven of those eight landlords in Galway were sanctioned for breaches of rent pressure zone rules and were fined between €200 and €4,400.

A further 28 sanctions against landlords nationally were also published by the RTB on Thursday.

This included a fine of €22,000 against Sweet Home Accommodation Ltd for properties on Lower Leeson Street, Middle Abbey Street and Upper Abbey Street in Dublin for failure to register tenancies.

Rosemary Steen, director of the RTB, said the sanctions showed the board's commitment to driving compliance with rental law.

"The new Rent Index data has flagged unusual patterns of rental inflation in Galway that we are engaging directly with stakeholders in the county to address. Our Compliance and Enforcement team also continues to pursue high-risk offenders through in-depth investigations that yielded €102,490 in sanctions published today."

Dr Rachel Slaymaker, research officer with the ESRI, said: "Nationally, the Rent Index shows average rents continue to rise for new and existing tenancies, but the data for the final quarter of 2024 show a clear moderation in the rate of rental price inflation throughout 2024. Despite falling rental inflation for new tenancies nationally though, price rises do remain persistently high in certain counties."