Laois amongst the most expensive counties in Ireland to rent a home

You need to have more than €1,000 a month if you want to rent a home in Laois according to the latest official figures.

That's one of the findings in the new Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) quarterly report on the cost of renting in Ireland.  The figures are independently analysed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI),

The agency, which says it exists to support and develop a well-functioning rental housing sector,  reports that Laois is one of 16 counties where the standardised average rents in new tenancies are above €1,000 per month.

The other expensive counties to rent in from January to March 2023 are Carlow, Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow.

The report shows that the standard average rent in a new Laois tenancy rose in the 12 months to the end of March 2023 by 6.5%. On March 31, 2022 the average montly Laois rent was €1,016.20. On the same date in 2023 it had risen to €1,082.28 a month.

Laois had the sixth lowest rate of rent increase out of 26 counties but just 200 new tenancies were reported. Laois represented just 1% of new tenancies nationally in the first three months of 2023.

Rents fell by less than 1% in Laois between the end of December 2022 and the end of March 2023.

Laois has the most expensive rents on average of the four Midland counties - including Offaly, Longford and Westmeath. However, it is cheaper to rent in Laois than in its bordering counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Kildare except  Tipperary. 

Laois is below the annual national rate of rent rises. The quarter 1 2023 Rent Index shows the standardised average rent in newly registered tenancies was €1,544 per month, which is an increase a year-on-year increase of 8.9%. Nationally, rents rose by 2.5% from the end of 2022 to the end of March.

New tenancies in Dublin stood at €2,102 while the average rent in Greater Dublin Area counties which includes Kildare was, t €1,530 while it was €1,133 outside the GDA.

The RTB gives a breakdown of rents by local electoral area. It shows that standardised rents are above €1,000 in all parts of the county.

The standard rent in the Borris-In-Ossory / Mountmellick District in the east and south of Laois was €1,029.52 at the end of March. Rents have been growing by more than 7% in this district for four successive quarters.

The district, which includes towns like Mountrath and Rathdowney, is the least populated of the three electoral districts in Laois

The reported standardised rent in Portlaoise is €1,089.17. The RTB reports that rents have not grown by more than 7% in the district this year. The rent growth in the area, which includes Ballinakill and Abbeyleix, is not revealed. 

The Graiguecullen - Portarlington is the most expensive of the three with the standard rent coming in at €1,101.30. Rents have been growing by more than 7% in this district for two successive quarters. The area includes Stradbally, Timahoe and fast-growing villages on the east of the county such as Ballylinan.

The RTB says the Index is the most accurate and authoritative rent report of its kind on the private rental sector in Ireland as it is based on regulatory data covering all registrations regardless of how the property was advertised for rent.

Girl who died in Clonmel crash arrives at church in white coffin as hundreds gather

This Rent Index is based on actual rents paid under 14,085 private tenancies which were newly registered with the RTB in Q1 2023. This is a decrease from 15,336 in the same quarter of the previous year