Meath rents up by almost 12% in a year
The latest rental report from property website Daft.ie shows that rents in Meath continue to rise and were up almost 12 per cent cent for the last quarter of 2022, compared to the same period the previous year.
The average rent in the county is now €1,706, which is up one per cent on the previous quarter, and increased by 11.9 per cent from the final quarter of 2021.
Nationally the average rent for the last quarter of 2022 was up 13.7 per cent in the year, and stands at €1,733.
As in recent quarters, the increase in market rents around the country is driven extraordinary shortages in the availability of rental accommodation. Nationwide, there were just 1,096 homes available to rent on 1st February, down over 20 per cent on the same date a year ago and roughly one quarter the average level of availability during 2015-2019.
This chronic shortage is replicated in Meath where today there were just 33 homes listed for rent in the county and this included six properties with Drogheda addresses.
Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft Report, said: “The figures in this latest Daft.ie Report confirm, once again, the chronic shortage of rental housing in all parts of the Irish market. The extraordinary collapse in availability over the past two years has brought about record increases in open market rents. New rental supply is the only real solution to a shortage of rental homes.
"Housing has established itself as the dominant political issue in recent years. While much of the policy effort is focused on homeownership, a variety of demographic trends, including delayed family formation and increased longevity, have contributed to a growing diversity in living arrangements. This in turn will mean more homes in the rental sector and thus a more tenure-neutral housing policy is required. Among the worst affected cohorts are younger adults, with the median adult age of leaving the parental home having grown almost 50 per cent in the last decade. Policymakers must have a clear plan on how their housing needs will be met, a plan that includes tens of thousands of new rental homes being delivered this decade in all major towns and cities.”