No relief for Laois renters in new Daft.ie figures

The average cost of renting a family home in Laois rose by more than double the national average in the past year and is rising at the same rate as Galway city, according to the latest figures from Daft.ie.

The latest Quarterly Rental Price Report from the property website covers the final three months of 2025. It shows that the average price of a three-bedroom house in the final quarter of 2025 was €1712, up 11.2% by the end of December 2024. Market rents rose nationally by 4.4% during 2025.

The Daft.ie rental breakdown per month for Laois, is as follows.

• A one-bedroom apartment has gone up 8.4% - average rent now €1,138.
• A two-bedroom apartment has gone up 10.7% - average rent now €1,436.
• A two-bedroom house has gone up 7.1%- average rent now €1,321.
• A three-bedroom home has gone up 11.2% - average rent now €1,712.
• A four-bedroom home has gone up 10.9% - average rent now €1,943

The report was published on February 24. On the previous day, there were just 15 properties to rent in Laois on Daft.ie. These were a mix of studios, apartments and houses. Just five of these were in the county town, Portlaoise.

The revamped report also gives a snapshot of average room rent by market and segment in Laois.

The cost of renting a double en-suite room in a house is  €690 - up 4.7%. The cost of a double room without an en-suite is  €635, up 10.9%. A double ensuite room in an apartment averages €726 a month up 1.9%. Renting a single room in a house with no en-suite costs €524  down -1.8%. MORE BELOW GRAPHIC.

Daft.ie say market rents have now risen in 13 of the last 14 years and are one third above their pre-COVID levels and 80% higher than ten years ago. The average market rent for a two-bedroom apartment nationwide, between September and December, was €2,086 per month.

There were fewer than 1,800 homes available to rent nationwide on February 1. This is down 22% compared to the same date one year ago and is by far the lowest level of availability for this time of year in a series extending back to 2006. The fall in availability is particularly acute in Dublin, where the number of homes to rent is down annually by over one third.

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The report also finds that rent inflation remains very high in the four major cities outside Dublin. The report shows rents in the final quarter of 2025 11.4% higher in Galway city, 7.5% higher in Cork, up 6.9% higher in Waterford and up 5% in Limerick. While inflation accelerated in Dublin over the course of the year, it remains lower, at 3%.

Outside the cities, the rate of inflation in open market rents is a little over 6% in both Leinster and Munster and 5.1% in Connacht-Ulster.

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Ronan Lyons, Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin, commented on the publication on the report he authors.

“Widespread uncertainty about the new rent controls appears to have exacerbated ongoing supply shortages in the rental market. Across the country, there have been steep falls in rental availability over the last year. There were fewer homes available to rent on February 1st this year than at the same time of year at any stage back to 2006.

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“Unsurprisingly, with extremely tight availability, rents in the open market continue to rise, with a further 4.4% increase during 2025, up from 3.6% in 2024. The same is true for room rentals, which have also seen a sharp fall in availability in the last year. It remains to be seen whether supply is holding off until new tenancy terms come in on March 1st or whether the change in rent controls has led to a further reduction in the stock of rental homes, as landlords sell up,” he said.