The State has experienced one of the sharpest increases in housing rents in Europe over the past 13 years. Typical rents paid across the State rose by 100 per cent between 2010 and the third quarter of last year, according to figures published by Eurostat.
This was third highest increase recorded anywhere in Europe, eclipsed only by Estonia (+218 per cent) and Lithuania (+170 per cent). The EU average was under 25 per cent.
Chronic supply problems combined more recently with an exodus of smaller landlords from the market have aggravated price pressures in the Irish rental market.
Rents on the open market were rising at an annual rate of 8 per cent in the third quarter, according to rental website Daft.ie, with the average market rent across the State standing at just under €1,825 per month. That is almost 2½ times the average rent of €765 per month at the low point of the market in late 2011.
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Eurostat’s latest report on Europe’s housing market noted that house prices and rents across the continent have “evolved differently” since the second quarter of 2011.
“While rents increased steadily throughout this period up to the second quarter of 2023, house prices fluctuated considerably,” it said.
While rents in the State have risen by 100 per cent, house prices have risen by just more than 60 per cent on their 2010 values, the data shows.
At the same time, house prices more than tripled in Estonia (+210 per cent) and more than doubled in Hungary (+185 per cent), Lithuania (+158 per cent), Latvia (+141 per cent), Austria (+123 per cent), Czech Republic (+122 per cent) and Luxembourg (+107 per cent). Decreases were observed in Greece (-14 per cent), Italy (-8 per cent) and Cyprus (-2 per cent).
The price of residential properties in Ireland increased by 2.3 per cent in the year to October, with prices in Dublin decreasing by 0.6 per cent and prices outside Dublin up by 4.5 per cent, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The agency’s latest residential property price index said the median price (or middle value) of a dwelling purchased in the year to October was €323,000.
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