DONEGAL’S rents are rising at a rate far beyond any of Ireland’s major cities.
The latest report from property website Daft.ie shows that rents here rose by 23 per-cent in the first three months of 2022 compared to the same period last year. That is a considerably higher percentage increase than Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford and almost double the national average of an 11.7 per-cent rise.
The average listed rent in Donegal is now €857 with a “record scarcity” of homes to blame. Between Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan there were just 36 homes available to rent on May 1, a drop of nearly 40 per-cent year-on-year.
Nationwide there were just 851 homes available to rent on May 1, down from over 3,600 a year ago and another new all-time low in a series that extends back over 15 years to 2006.
Author of the report and Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin, Ronan Lyons, said policymakers need to get to work creating the conditions for tens of thousands of new rental homes to be built right across the state over the coming years.
“The latest figures confirm the overall strength of demand for rental accommodation in Ireland,” said Professor Lyons.
“While strong demand for housing reflects underlying economic health, it becomes a challenge when there is inadequate supply to meet it. In Ireland’s case, the economy has suffered from an under-provision of new rental accommodation for over a decade.
“As a result market rents have doubled and, as shown in this latest report, rental homes have become unbelievably scarce. New figures confirm that sitting tenants have experienced much smaller increases in rents – both during 2021 and over the last ten years. Thus the focus for policymakers must remain on creating the conditions for tens of thousands of new rental homes – market and social, all across the country – to be built over the coming years,” Professor Lyons added.
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