Average rent cost in Limerick city closes in on €2k

RENTS in the city have risen once again, a new survey has revealed.

Analysis by property rental website www.daft.ie reveal the average price tenants are now paying in Limerick is now €1,933 per calendar month.

That represents a 17.5% year-on-year rise.

In the rest of Limerick, market rents had risen on average by almost five percent in the first three months of 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023. The average listed rent is now €1,406, up 51% from the level when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred.

Across the wider Munster province, market rents were up 5.9%.

This means the price increase has slowed slightly - with 11.6% increases seen in early 2023.

However, availability remains very low, with economist Ronan Lyons, who was commissioned by www.daft.ie to do the survey, pointing out that just 240 homes were available to rent in Munster on May 1 last.

This represents just a quarter of the 2015 to 2019 average.

Across the country, rental rates rose only marginally by an average of 0.6%.

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.

Mr Lyons, the associate professor in economics at Trinity College Dublin said: “Rental inflation has slowed considerably over the last 18 months, driven in large part by the construction of significant numbers of new rental homes in the Dublin area. More supply, even at the upper end of the market, relieves pressures across the market and, in the second half of 2023 in particular, new supply saw availability improve and inflation has eased.”

Despite this, he warned improvements in availability of homes appears to have stalled.

This, he warned is going to fuel more rent increases.

Sinn Fein mayoral election candidate Maurice Quinlivan said: “When will it end? Renters in Limerick cannot keep taking these kinds of rent hikes.”