Rental supply hits record low as prices keep climbing

Ellen O'Donoghue

The supply of homes to rent has hit an all-time low.

The latest analysis by Daft.ie found that there were fewer than 1,800 homes available to rent nationwide on February 1st.

This is down 22 per cent compared to the same date in 2024 and is by far the lowest level of availability since the series began.

The latest Rental Report showed that prices were up by 4.4 per cent nationwide last year, compared to a 3.6 per cent increase during 2024.

The average cost of a two-bed apartment nationally is now €2,086 a month.

In Dublin, the average price of a two-bedroom apartment in the final quarter of 2025 was €2,517, up 2.3 per cent on the previous year.

There was worse news in the other major cities.

Rents were 11.4 per cent higher in Galway, 7.5 per cent higher in Cork, 6.9 per cent higher in Waterford and up 5 per cent in Limerick.

Supply in all markets is less than half that of 2015-2019. It is down 72 per cent in the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, and down 75 per cent in Connacht-Ulster.

The picture in Dublin is not much better, where supply has declined 52 per cent.

It has been 20 years since Daft first began studying the rental market.

Market rents are now 34 per cent above pre-Covid levels, 79 per cent higher than a decade ago, and 68 per cent above their Celtic Tiger peak.