Rental inflation eases in the final quarter of 2014

Ronan Lyons, Economist

16th Feb 2015

Ronan Lyons, Daft's in-house economist, commenting on the latest Daft research on the Irish property market.

Rental inflation eases in the final quarter of 2014

Year-on-year inflation in rents nationwide eased in the final three months 2014, according to the latest quarterly Rental Report by Daft.ie.

The national average rent between October and December was just under €950, that's 9.7% higher than last year. However, this is down from a 10.8% annual increase in the second and third quarters and marks the first time since mid-2009 that rental inflation has eased.

This national trend is being driven by a moderation in Dublin's rental inflation, which has eased from 16.5% in April to below 10% by January.

 Stock of Properties Rental Q4 2014

In the other city centres, rents continue to rise but at a slightly slower pace. In Cork city, rents are 7.3% higher than last year. In Galway they are 7% higher, Limerick has seen a 6.2% rise while in Waterford city rental inflation was at 5.1% in the final three months of 2014.

Offsetting the easing in rental inflation in Ireland's urban centres has been more rapid inflation, in particular in Dublin's commuter counties. Rents across the four commuter counties were 14.1% higher than a year previously in late 2014 - the first time in this cycle that inflation has been slower in Dublin than in its commuter counties.

Snapshot of Rents Nationwide Q4 2014

Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, economist at TCD and author of the Daft Report, said: “The slow-down in rental inflation in Dublin at a time when new listings are sluggish suggests that a limit to affordability has been reached there. Over the last 12 months, availability has stabilised in Dublin at very low levels, while it has tightened further in the Commuter Counties. The underlying lack of construction in a city growing by roughly 10,000 new families every year has created a new generation of commuter, one driven not by preference for green space but by the hard maths of affordability.”

First Time Buyer Mortgage vs. Rental Q4 2014