Rental crisis: Average cost of listed rental property in Longford is now €1,353, up 83% since pandemic

In Longford, market rents were on average 7.9% higher in the final three months of 2024 than a year previously.

The average listed rent in Longford is now €1,353, up 83% from the level prevailing when the covid19 pandemic occurred.

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According to the latest Rental Report by Daft.ie, market rents in Leinster's midland counties rose 5% year-on-year, compared to a rise of 12.4% in 2023.  

The ongoing increase in rents reflects very tight availability, with fewer than 70 homes available to rent on February 1, down one quarter year-on-year and just one third the late 2010s average.

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Nationally market rents rose by an average of 5.7% during 2024, down slightly from the 6.8% increase seen in 2023.

The average open-market rent nationwide in the final quarter of the 2024 was €1,956 per month, up marginally quarter-on-quarter and 43% higher than before the outbreak of covid19.

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Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin, said:

“An acute shortage of rental housing continues to plague the market, driving rents in the open market further up and creating a wedge between those that get the benefit from rent controls and those that don’t. Rents for movers have increased by almost half since rent controls were tightened in 2021, while rents for ‘stayers’ have risen by just seven percent in the same time.

"As the rental crisis enters its second decade, significant reform is needed to rent controls both to avoid a situation where the pressure in the market falls disproportionately on some renters and, more importantly, to ensure that new supply comes on stream over the coming years. Rising rents are a signal of a shortage of rental housing. The ultimate solution to that shortage is to ensure new rental housing is built. This must be central to housing policy for the new government.”

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