Longford average rent skyrockets to €1,337
Market rents were on average 20% higher in the first three months of 2024 than a year previously
In Longford, market rents were on average 20% higher in the first three months of 2024 than a year previously.
The average listed rent is now €1,337, up 81% from the level prevailing when the covid19 pandemic occurred.
Market rents in Leinster's midland counties rose 9.4% year-on-year, down from 14.5% in early 2023.
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The slower increase in rents reflects low but improving availability, with 65 homes available to rent on May 1st, up 27% year-on-year but still well below the late 2010s average.
Nationally, market rents rose by an average of 0.6% in the first quarter of 2024, according to the latest Rental Report by Daft.ie.
While this marks the thirteenth consecutive quarter in which rents nationwide have increased, the increase between December and March is the smallest in that run. The average open-market rent nationwide in the first quarter of the year was €1,836 per month, up 4.9% year-on-year.
The decline in rental inflation, from a mid-2022 peak of 14%, is driven by Dublin. In the capital, market rents in the first quarter were 2.5% higher than a year previously. But rental inflation has cooled in other markets as well, with the average increase outside Dublin 7.2% year-on-year.
In Galway city, rents were up 5% year-on-year, while in Waterford and Cork cities, the increases were 6.9% and 8% respectively. However, in Limerick city, market rents were up 17.5% year-on-year, one of the largest increases in the country.
The number of homes available to rent on the open market remains low.
On May 1, just over 2,000 homes were available to rent, effectively unchanged on the same date a year previously and well below half the 2015-2019 average of almost 4,400.
Availability had almost doubled between late 2022 and late 2023 but has fallen considerably since the start of the year.