Average rent grew by 8.1% for new tenancies in first quarter – RTB

The standardised average rent grew by 8.1% for new tenancies nationally and by 5.9% for existing tenancies, between the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

The findings were published in the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) Rent Index on Thursday.

The quarterly index tracks price developments in the Irish rental market over time.

It is based on RTB tenancy registration data that is independently analysed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

It is considered to provide the most accurate picture of how average rents are changing for new and existing tenancies in Ireland.

The figures published compare the standardised average rent for all new and existing tenancies registered in the first four months of the year, with a similar but not identical sample of all tenancies registered in the previous quarter and in Q1 2023.

It shows that rents for new tenancies rose by 8.1% nationally since last year.

The average standardised rent for new tenancies was highest in Dublin at 2,128 euro per month and lowest in Donegal at 950 euro per month.

In Dublin the annual increase for new tenancy rents was 6.3%, compared with 12.2% outside of Dublin.

Counties Leitrim and Longford saw the highest growth in rent for new tenancies at 22.6% and 22.5% respectively.

Looking at cities, Dublin city had the highest average rent for new tenancies at 2,084 euro followed by Galway City at 1,720 euro.

Limerick city recorded the greatest annual increase in rent levels, rising by 18.3% to 1,522 euro.

Rents for existing tenancies rose by 5.9% nationally since last year, showing that people in existing tenancies pay lower rents than those in new tenancies.

The standardised average rent for existing tenancies was highest in Dublin at 1,829 euro per month and lowest in Leitrim at 726 euro per month.

Nearly 30% of existing tenancies in the first four months of the year were new tenancies one year ago.

New tenancies include new builds and properties not rented for two years that are not subject to Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) rules.

They tend to come on the market at a higher rent. When they move to the Existing Tenancies Rent Index, they push up the average rent level on this index.

The Greater Dublin Area of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow had the lowest increase in average rents for existing tenancies, up 4.1% from Q1 2023 compared with 5.2% in Dublin and 6.3% outside the Greater Dublin area.

Rosemary Steen, director of the RTB said: “The RTB is the public body responsible for providing reliable data on Ireland’s rental sector.”

She also welcomed the preliminary findings from the new Individual Property Level Analysis, which provides data on landlords who may have beached RPZ rules.

“Our board will review this data in detail to guide our planning for 2025,” she added.

“We will be communicating with these landlords as a priority to bring them back into compliance.

“Where there is deliberate and ongoing non-compliance, we will be using our full powers to investigate and sanction non-compliant landlords.”

Brian Gallwey, senior research officer with the RTB said: “The RTB’s quarterly Rent Index is the most comprehensive and accurate source of data on rent levels in Ireland’s private rental sector.

“By using RTB registration data to track changes in rent on a quarterly basis, we can see that although rent levels for new tenancies continued to increase nationally by 8.1% in Q1 2024, this has moderated from a high of 11.3% seen in Q2 2023, and it is also down from the 9.1% observed in Q4 2023.”

Rachel Slaymaker, research officer with the ESRI said: “We are pleased to complement the Rent Index data by sharing some preliminary findings from a separate ‘Individual Property Level Analysis’ study today.

“Using newly collected annual registrations data allows us to track individual properties for the first time to see how their rents are changing from year to year.

“These new data give us a deeper understanding of the sector.

“We aim to provide further insights when we publish the full report later this year.”