Market rents in Offaly rise 7.2 per cent year-on-year, daft.ie report reveals

MARKET rents in Offaly rose 7.2 per cent year-on-year, and the average listed rent is now €1642, up 74% from the level prevailing when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred.

The on-going increase in rents reflects very tight availability, with fewer than 70 homes available to rent on May 1st, down almost one third year-on-year and just one third the late 2010s average.  

Market rents rose by an average of 3.4% in the first three months of 2025, according to the latest Rental Report by Daft.ie, one of the largest three-month increases in the last two decades. The average open-market rent nationwide in the first quarter of 2025 was €2,053 per month, up from a low of just €765 in 2011 and 48% higher than before the outbreak of covid19.

After a period of subdued pressure on rents in Dublin, due to a large volume of new rental housing coming on to the market, inflation in the capital is converging with rates elsewhere. In the year to March, market rents rose by 5.8% in Dublin and by 8.6% elsewhere, the smallest gap in inflation rates in two years.

Pressure on rental markets in Ireland’s other cities remains acute. In Waterford, market rents in March were up 9.9% year-on-year, while in Cork and Galway cities, they were up 13.6% and 12.6% respectively. But once again, Limerick has seen the largest increases, with rents up over 20% year-on-year. Outside the major cities, rents in Leinster and Connacht-Ulster were up just over 5% year-on-year, while rents in Munster were 11.5% higher.

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There were just over 2,300 homes available to rent nationwide on May 1st, down 14% year-on-year. This is the third lowest total for May in twenty years and close to half the 2015-2019 average for availability of homes to rent.
Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin, said: “The average open-market rent nationwide exceeds €2,000 a month for the first time, up from below €1,400 a month just five years ago. The sustained increases in rents in the open market are being driven by an acute and worsening shortage of rental housing.

Unfortunately, changes made to rent controls in 2021 dramatically reduced the ability of Ireland’s rental sector to attract the capital needed for new supply, the ultimate remedy for the shortage. The opportunity exists for the government to reform those controls and facilitate the emergence of a new pipeline of rental homes. Nonetheless, further supports will be needed to encourage new rental supply outside of the Greater Dublin Area.”

Average market rents, and year-on-year change, 2025 Q1

Dublin: €2,540, up 5.8%
Cork city: €2,213, up 13.6%
Limerick city: €2,405, up 20.4%
Galway city: €2,304, up 12.6%
Waterford city: €1,735, up 9.9%
Rest of the country: €1,645, up 7.2%

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