The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE average price sought for rental properties in Clare increased by 9% between the third quarter of last year and the third quarter of this year, according to Daft.ie.
It stated that the average rent sought in Clare now stands at €1,167 per month.
The average price sought for a one-bedroom apartment is now €788, while at the other end of the scale an average five-bedroom house now costs €1,395 per month.
It is cheaper to buy than rent across all house sizes, with the difference being particularly noticeable for smaller properties.
For instance the average rent on a one-bedroom apartment is more than twice the €378 it would cost to pay a mortgate on a similar property.
Rents across Clare increased by just under 2% compared to the second quarter, while they are now 117% above what was being sought at the lowest point of the recession.
Writing in the Daft.ie rental report, Trinity College economist Ronan Lyons said there is a dearth of rental supply.
“The total number of rental homes put on the market, nationally, has fallen steadily over the last decade.
“In 2016, there were about 75,000 homes put up for rent over the course of the year. By early 2022, that had fallen to less than 50,000 – and in the last six months, it has fallen again to about 35,000.
“Remarkably, there have been some commentators who – despite being critical of the health of the housing system – have tried to represent the fall in availability on daft.ie as merely evidence of a website struggling, rather than a rental market struggling.
“While it would be difficult for daft.ie if this were true, it would be great news for Ireland, as a country: no rental crisis, just an issue with a property portal.
“However, anyone with any connection to the rental market, even indirect, is well aware that the trends shown in this report are not a reflection of a portal losing market share but instead
reflect extraordinary pressure on the private rental segment.”
He stated that building of new rental homes is urgently required.
“The compelling evidence from the rental market in Ireland over the last two decades – and reaffirmed in very clear terms in the last few months – is that, for any given level of rental demand, the best cure for high rents is supply.
“As a country, we have tried a decade of not building new rental homes as a way to solve the shortage of rental homes. Maybe it’s time we tried a different approach.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
