Rents show first signs of levelling off

16th February, 2010 - Rents across the country rose by just over 1% in January, according to the latest report published by the property website, Daft.ie. This increase while marginal is the first time rents have risen since they began to fall 24 months ago. The national average rent now stands at €765, almost 25% below peak levels seen in early 2008.

The January increase follows sharp falls in rents during 2009. Over the course of the year, Dublin rents fell almost 19%. Rents in Cork, Limerick and Waterford cities fell by 16%, while Galway rents fell by 11%. Elsewhere in the country, rents fell by an average of 15%.

Over the past 2 years the number of properties available to rent has increased from an average of 6,000 at any one time, to over 23,000 in August 2009. In February 2010 that number has fallen to 19,000 - a drop of 20%.

Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, Economist at Daft.ie said: "It is too soon to say definitively whether rents have levelled off, but the January increase does seem to be broadly consistent around the country. The levelling off is most likely a result of a steady fall in the number of properties available to rent nationwide. Over the past 5 months we have seen the stock of property available to rent fall by more than 20%."

For further information please contact:

Naoise McNally (085 7492363, 01 421 8700), Daft.ie - media@daft.ie

Notes to the editor:
Daft.ie is Ireland's largest property website. The latest audited report from ABCe (May 2009) shows traffic of 103 million page impressions (pages of information received) and 1,275,630 unique users per month. Daft.ie is now the number one property website in Ireland across all demographics, from first-time-buyers to commercial property investors.

About the Daft.ie Rental Report
The Daft Rental Report is based on an analysis of all rental properties advertised on Daft.ie since January 2002, including over 130,000 since January 2009. This figure represents the bulk of the available properties to let in the country and therefore gives the most accurate and timely reflection of what is happening in the Irish rental market. Figures are calculated from econometric regressions using standard methods.