There are on average just 5.9 properties available to rent in the Republic for every 10,000 people, a new study has revealed.
The research by estate agent Savills mined data from property website Daft to examine the availability of rental property across each of the 26 counties.
It found that, as of August 19th, there were an average of 5.9 properties for rent or sharing for every 10,000 people. If the scope was narrowed to just rental units (with no sharing options), the ratio fell to just 3.5. That compares with a pre-pandemic average of 9.1.
The research indicated that Monaghan was the worst county when it came to finding a place to rent or share with just 2.4 rental properties per 10,000 people followed by Roscommon (2.5) and Donegal (3.3).
Despite its ongoing rental challenges, Dublin ranked top with 15.3 units per 10,000 which the report described as “very low compared to demand”.
Nonetheless, the Dublin ratio was nearly double the next best county, Carlow, which had a ratio of 8.4 despite the “absolute number of properties available — at 54 — being staggeringly low”.
The report also noted that Dublin’s availability of 2,290 properties to rent or to share was more than the rest of the State combined.
The research also examined the availability of second-hand homes for sale. For the State as a whole, it found there were 24.2 properties for sale per 10,000 population but noted that there was significant variation between counties.
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Monaghan again came bottom with the lowest number of properties for sale on an absolute numerical basis (81), but also on a population-adjusted basis (12.2 per 10,000), which is almost half the national average. Leitrim, Roscommon and Mayo ranked top with 42.9, 41.5 and 39.3 respectively.
Dublin’s ratio was 19.5 reflecting the fact there were 2,912 used properties for sale with a population of just under 1.5 million. Below Dublin were Meath (13.4), Kildare (14.3), Carlow (17.7) and Louth (18).
“What ties these counties together is that they are all commuter counties to Dublin, suggesting that the higher prices in Dublin are leading to stiff competition for homes for sale within striking distance of the capital,” the report said, noting greater flexibility in post-pandemic working patterns may also have induced more people to purchase outside of Dublin.
It did not indicate what a healthy stock of second-hand homes per 10,000 head of population would look like.
“The starkest finding of this analysis is the shortage of rental stock across the country and it is not clear how this issue is going to be resolved,” said director of research at Savills Ireland John Ring.
“Apartment development, the traditional channel by which rental stock has been delivered historically, is unviable in most locations outside of Dublin, with no new apartment delivery of scale taking place since the crash,” Mr Ring said.
“Furthermore, lending for buy-to-let investment is minuscule, while many existing landlords are exiting the market. Lastly, the model of developing housing estates for rental has been effectively banned via prohibitive stamp duty on these transactions,” he said.
“The question therefore arises: what is the plan for delivering private rented stock across the country?” asked Mr Ring.
