According to Daft.ie’s rental price report for Q2 2024, rental costs in Limerick city last year were three times higher than the national average.
The average rent on the free market nationwide in the second quarter of the year was 1,922 euros per month, an increase of 7.3 percent over the previous year and 41 percent more than before the outbreak of Covid-19.
In Limerick city, rents have increased by 21.2% in the last year and the average rent is now €2,107.
In County Limerick, market rents were on average 12.3% higher in the second quarter of 2024 than a year earlier. The average list rent is now €1,564, 68% higher than the level that prevailed at the time of the Covid19 pandemic.
Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft.ie report, said: “Between mid-2022 and mid-2023 there was a slowdown in open market rent inflation, driven by Dublin and in particular the construction of a significant number of new rental apartments in the Dublin area.
“As the very high inflation rates of market rents in the other cities show, however, this effect was limited to the capital, where the new supply was concentrated.”
Mr Lyons said recent reports suggested that even in Dublin, improvements in rental housing availability were stalling.
“Without new rental supply, it is likely that pressure on rents will increase in the future, making affordability even more difficult for those on regular incomes. It remains the task of policymakers to first develop a thorough understanding of rental supply dynamics and second to develop a detailed plan to dramatically increase rental supply in all major rental markets over the coming years.”
Nationwide, market rents increased by an average of 2% in the second quarter of 2024. This is the fourteenth consecutive quarter in which nationwide rents increased and the 45th time in the last 48 quarters.
Market rent inflation in Dublin continues to be significantly lower than in the rest of the country. In the capital, rents were 3.5 percent higher in the second quarter of the year than in the previous year, while in the rest of the country they were on average 10.6 percent higher.
Market rents rose “particularly sharply” in Limerick city (up 21% year-on-year), but the other three cities also saw double-digit increases, ranging from 13% in Galway to 10% in Waterford. Outside the cities, the rate of increase was similar on average, ranging from 9.3% in Munster to 10.5% in Connacht-Ulster.
As in recent years, supply on the rental market remains extremely tight. As of August 1, there were just over 2,200 apartments available for rent across the country, virtually unchanged from the previous year and only half the average for the years 2015 to 2019, when 4,400 apartments were available for rent.
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Average market rents and year-on-year change, Q2 2024
Dublin: €2,427, up 3.5%
City of Cork: €2,005, an increase of 11.9%
Limerick City: €2,107, an increase of 21.2%
Galway City: €2,114, an increase of 13.3%
City of Waterford: €1,616, up 9.9%
Rest of the country: €1,573, an increase of 9.9%
