A report published today shows new renters are paying significantly more per month than those with existing tenancies.
The survey, from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), shows the costs facing those with new tenancy arrangements increased by 9.1%, over the course of 2023.
In the final quarter of last year the average rent for such tenants was 16% more than that paid by those with an existing lease.
The study takes in details of both new and existing tenancies around the country.
It looks at the cost and supply of rental properties between October and December of 2023 and compares these details with those from the same period a year earlier.
The report does not look at compliance with Rent Pressure Zone legislation.
There was a 31% fall in the number of tenancies that began toward the end of 2023, relative to the same three months a year earlier, with new lets dropping from 17,240, to 11,895.
There was a total of 56,451 new tenancies in 2023, down more than a fifth on the previous year.
As well as looking at different rent levels, the report gives an insight into how rents are rising for those in existing tenancies. Those rents increased by almost 6% last year.
The average monthly rent for a new tenancy in Dublin was €2,098. This compares with an average of €1,225 outside the Greater Dublin Area (GDA). However, while prices for new tenancies increased by 6.5% over the course of 2023, they went up by 12.6% outside the GDA.
In every county new tenants pay a higher rent, relative to what sitting tenants pay.
The gap is most pronounced in Co Sligo, where there’s a 36% difference – or €300 – between the cost of the average existing rent, compared to the price facing a new tenant.
Donegal, Westmeath and Limerick also recorded variations of more than a third in similar scenarios.
The difference is lowest in Co Louth, where new rents are 11% more costly.
The report also shows that Limerick recorded a 25% rent increase, year on year, for new tenancies. Rents in the city are now on average just €20 less than the comparable figure in Cork. Researchers say they are watching to see if this is a temporary adjustment or whether the narrowing of rental costs between both locations is more permanent.
The study, conducted in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Institute, gathered responses from 39,000 existing tenancies around Ireland.
The new tenancies index has data going back to 2007, while the existing tenancies index commenced in 2022.
