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Latest Rent Index Reports an 8.2% Annual Increase in Rents for New Tenancies in the Second Quarter of 2022

24 November 2022: The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) has published the Q2 2022 Rent Index report today for the period of April to June 2022. Independently analysed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the RTB Rent Index report is based on the total number of private tenancies newly registered with RTB each quarter. The Index provides rental indicators based on actual rents paid for new tenancies in the private rental sector in Ireland. 

The Rent Index report is based on (i) new tenancies in existing rental properties, (ii) new properties being let for the first time, and (iii) new tenancies in properties that have not been let in the previous two years. It is not designed to provide a measure of the rents being paid by existing tenants. 

This Rent Index is based on actual rents paid under 12,701 private tenancies which were newly registered with the RTB in Q2 2022. This is a decrease of 16% on the number of registered tenancies used in the sample in the Q2 2021 Rent Index (15,048). Dublin, and the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), accounted for over half (54.2%) of all new tenancy agreements registered in Q2 2022. 59.5% of new tenancies registered were for apartments. 

National Rental Trends 

Nationally, the Q2 2022 Rent Index shows that the standardised average rent in newly registered tenancies was €1,464 per month, which is an increase of €9 compared to Q1 2022, which stood at €1,455. The quarterly growth rate represents a 0.6% increase. On a yearly basis, rents in these newly registered tenancies increased by 8.2%.

In Q2 2022, the standardised average rent in new tenancies for houses in Ireland stood at €1,457 per month, which is an increase of 1.4% on Q1 2022 and a rise of 8.4% year-on-year. The standardised average rent in new tenancies for apartments stood at €1,497 per month in Q2 2022, which is an increase of 0.3% on Q1 2022, and an increase of 8.5% on Q2 2021. 

Regional Trends 

In the second quarter of 2022, the level of standardised average rents in new tenancies in Dublin stood at €2,011 per month compared to €1,130 per month outside Dublin (non-Dublin). The standardised average rent in new tenancies in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) stood at €1,438 in Q2 2022 while it was €1,091 outside the GDA. Year-on-year price increases in rents for new tenancies were lowest at 0.4% in the GDA and highest at 8.8% in Dublin. Year-on-year increases in rents for new tenancies was 8.3% for outside the GDA. 

The standardised average rent in new tenancies for houses in Q2 2022 was highest at €2,253 per month in Dublin and lowest at €1,125 per month outside the GDA. The standardised average rent in new tenancies for apartments in Q2 2022 was highest at €1,979 per month in Dublin and lowest at €1,059 per month outside the GDA. The lowest annual growth rates across the regions, for both houses and apartments, were recorded in the GDA, at +3% and -2.5%, respectively. 

County Developments 

The highest standardised average rent in new tenancies for Q2 2022 was in Dublin at €2,011 per month while the lowest monthly rents were in Donegal, where the standardised average rent in new tenancies stood at €783 per month. 

Fourteen counties have standardised average rents in new tenancies above €1,000 per month in Q2 2022: Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow.  

The lowest yearly growth in the standardised average rent for new tenancies in Q2 2022 was in Wicklow where rents fell by 2%. Kildare had the second lowest yearly growth rate, with rents falling by 1.1%. The county with the fastest growing standardised average rent in new tenancies in Q2 2022 was Leitrim which reported 20% year-on-year growth. Fourteen counties had a yearly growth rate in new tenancy rents above 10% in Q2 2022.   

Niall Byrne, RTB Director, commenting on the release of the RTB Q2 2022 Rent Index said: 

“The Q2 2022 Rent Index Report shows us that the national rent level for new tenancies across the country has continued to rise. We also see a continued decrease in the number of tenancies registered with the RTB in the quarter. These results are likely due to a mixture of factors including the continued limited supply of rental accommodation. It is important to state that these results are for new tenancies only and therefore these insights relate to only a small part of the private rental sector in Ireland.” 

He continued: 

“Over the last 12 months, there have been some important changes for the RTB and for the sector. With the introduction of annual registration on 4 April 2022, and of our new tenancy registration system in November last year, the data analysis and reporting capabilities of the RTB will be improving significantly as we move into 2023. We acknowledge that the new registration system has created difficulties for some landlords and agents, and we are working hard to address these. As we move towards the completion of this first cycle of annual registration in April next year, we remain confident that annual registration will provide the RTB with much greater visibility on rents for both existing and new tenancies. This expanded data will allow us to provide new insights and improved information to tenants, landlords and the wider public during 2023 while also providing enhanced data to inform the development of policy for the residential rental sector.” 

Editors’ Notes 

The purpose of the Rent Index Report is to measure developments in the prices faced by those taking up new tenancies in the private rental sector. 

The analysis in this report presents rental indices on a quarterly basis covering the period between Q3 2007 and Q2 2022. 

The term “new tenancies” includes new tenancies in existing rental properties; new tenancies in new rental stock never let before; and new tenancies in properties that have not been let in the immediate two years prior to the tenancy. 

Tenancies which began on or after 24 December 2016 became six-year tenancies which were required to be renewed every six years (if they did not end within six years). As such, due to how they fall, six-year tenancies would not be required to be renewed until Q1 2023. In order to ensure that results are consistent across time and that they are not driven by changes in sample composition stemming from a change in reporting deadlines, all renewal tenancies have therefore been removed from the sample used to generate the indices and standardised averages. 

Due to recent legislative changes, all new tenancies created on or after 11 June 2022 will become Tenancies of Unlimited Duration once the tenancy has lasted more than six months and no notice of termination has been validly served on the tenant during that period. Tenancies that existed prior to 11 June 2022 will convert to Tenancies of Unlimited Duration at the end of the current 6-year cycle.

The growth rates presented in this report are calculated using the relevant standardised average rent* level before rounding. 

To calculate the standardised averages and the rental indices of new tenancies, an econometric model is estimated over the time period Q3 2007 to Q2 2022. This model includes characteristic variables** for the number of bedrooms, the property type, number of tenants, tenancy length and other characteristics. This standardised average rent refers to the development of an average that is consistent over time to changes in different property types or characteristics of the tenancy that may evolve with the market and is done so for new tenancies. The standardised average rent in new tenancies can therefore be compared over time without concern for underlying changes in the data or sample.  

Please note that given the systematic change of data collection activities with the commencement of annual registration, prior to beginning the usual Rent Index methodology, the Q2 2022 dataset was subject to additional checks to attempt to ensure the continuity of the underlying data and that they relate to new market registrations only. These checks are documented in Appendix 2 of the report.

Important to note: The ongoing introduction and easing of COVID-19 related restrictions around rental price growth in line with the public health measures is likely to have had an effect on the trends presented throughout 2020 and 2022. 

*Calculating a growth rate based on the rounded standardised average rent levels published in the report may be subject to rounding error. 

**For these variables, the reference property type is a two-bedroom apartment, one tenant, 10-to-12-month lease, with rent paid monthly in a region without a third-level institution. 

Q2 2022 Rent Index Results Overview 

National (Page 13) 

***Please see the Technical Appendix (page 52) in the main report for further details on the methodology. 

The Dublin Market (Page 18) 

The Greater Dublin Area (GDA) (Page 18) 

Outside the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) (Page 18) 

  A Closer Look at Irish Cities (Page 31) 

To provide a more detailed insight into rental developments across cities in Ireland, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) use indices and standardised average rents for new tenancies to examine Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford cities. 

Local Authorities (Page 33) 

The Rent Index presents indicies, the standardised average rent in new tenancies, and growth rates for the local authority areas within Dublin, Cork, and Galway. All other local authorities (LAs) are identical to their counties and their results can therefore be found in the ‘Rental Developments Across Counties’ section of the main report (page 24). 

  Local Electoral Area (LEA) Rent Developments (Page 34) 

Rental Developments Across Counties (Page 24) 

To provide a more detailed overview of rental data nationally, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) uses standardised average rents, indices, and percentage changes for new tenancies for each county to examine the rental developments across counties.

Trend in House Rent Prices (Page 21) 

Trend in Apartment Rent Prices (Page 23) 

RTB Rental Sector Survey