The latest rental report from daft.ie shows that private rents bounced back somewhat in recent months in Ireland despite having fallen relatively quickly at the beginning of the pandemic.
However, there are very important differences between Dublin and the rest of the country. Nationally, rents rose by 1% in the three months to October 2020 and are up by a similar extent over the past year.
In Dublin, rents were effectively flat over the most recent threemonth period and are down 1% yoy, the first annual fall since 2011. As a comparison, rents are up 3% year-on-year (yoy) in Munster and 5% yoy in Leinster (excluding Dublin).
Goodbody Stockbrokers say a divergence in trends in the stock for sale can largely explain these differing rental trends. In Dublin, the stock for rent is up 90% over the past twelve months but is at an-all time low in Leinster (excl Dublin) and at a 15-year low in Munster and Connacht/Ulster.
A one-off shift in stock from the short-term lettings market in Dublin is playing a role here says Goodbody, as well as migration (both national and international) flows out of Dublin as employees are encouraged to work from home.
According to Goodbody Stockbrokers, "We noted in our report on housing last week that we believe that the rental market would be more adversely affected than the owner-occupier market due to the sectoral weakness in the labour market. This is proving to be the case, but this doesn’t mean that additional supply is not necessary over the coming years. Relative to need, stock levels remain low across the country."
Source: www.businessworld.ie