The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE Banner county’s property market is scorching hot according to a number of recent indicators.
Research from Daft.ie this week shows that rents in the county are now more than twice what they were at the low point of the crash.
The latest Daft.ie rental price report states that rents here were 15.7% higher in the final quarter of 2021 compared to the final quarter of 2020.
The average asking price to rent a property in Clare is now 102% above its lowest point.
Daft.ie is an extremely popular portal for people looking to rent a home, and on Tuesday it showed just 18 properties available to rent in the whole county, illustrating how tight the market is.
One crumb of comfort for renters is that the rate of increase in price does seem to be slowing.
The increase in the last quarter of the year was 1.6%, whereas year on year it was 15.7%.
According to Daft.ie it is now cheaper to pay a mortgage on any size property in Clare, and in some cases substantially so.
For instance paying a mortgage on a two bed house here costs approximately €394 per month, whereas the average rent for such a property is more than twice that sum, at €831 per month.
That being said, the rental news comes in the same week that saw reports of prices of three-bedroom semi-detached houses rocketing in Clare in the second half of last year.
Prices increased by 13% for these units, a greater percentage than any other part of the country. (see story in Section 2 p3)
A statement from Daft.ie accompanying the rental report said, “Rents in Munster rose 10.2% year-on-year, reflecting very low availability – just 139 homes were available to rent on February 1, the lowest on record.
“In Clare, rents were on average 15.7% higher in the final quarter of 2021 than a year previously. The average listed rent is now €1087, up 102% from its lowest point.
“Nationwide rents in the final quarter of 2021 were an average of 10.3% higher than the same period in 2020.
“The average monthly rent nationwide between October and December was €1,524, up 3% on the first quarter and double the low of €765 per month seen in late 2011.
“The sharp increase in rents around the country reflects a worsening of the unprecedented scarcity of rental homes.
“Nationwide, there were just 1,397 homes available to rent on February 1st, a new all-time low in a series that extends back over fifteen years to January 2006.”
Threshold, the national housing charity highlighted what it called blatant disregard of the Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) legislation in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Kildare, Meath and Louth.
The rent increases outside of the Rent Pressure Zones are equally worrying, according to the charity.
Increases as high as 25% in Co. Leitrim, 24% in Donegal and 20% in Co. Mayo equate to monthly rent increases of approximately €150 to €160 a month.
This amounts to almost €2,000 a year, in additional to the extra funds required by households to meet the increased cost of living, with inflation at a 20 year high of 5.5%. Private renters outside of the Rent Pressure Zones are now being left at the mercy of the market.
Threshold’s helpline is open Monday to Friday, 9am- 9pm at 1800 454 454, with webchat at www.threshold.ie/advice/help.
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.
