While national rents have reached their lowest level since August 2006 according to the latest Daft.ie rental report, rents in Waterford city have remained largely static.
Indeed, when assessing the year-on-year condition of the rental market, rents are up by just over two per cent in Waterford when compared to this time last year.
But the average monthly city rent, which stands at €759, represents a 0.9 per cent decline when compared to the previous quarter.
In the past three months, rents have dropped by three per cent on average across the country. This is mainly due to the remarkable 133 per cent increase in the number of properties available for rent when compared to the same period in 2007.
“In the second half of 2007, rents were rising at double-digit rates as potential first-time buyers postponed buying as they saw house prices falling,” said Daft.ie economist Ronan Lyons.
“Since then the rental market has been flooded by those properties that aren’t selling, reversing the trend of increasing rents.”
He added: “2006 and 2007 saw an unprecedented number of new homes built in Ireland – probably over 170,000 in two years. With no shortage of unsold properties, rents can be expected to continue to fall for perhaps another 12 months. Much lower numbers of new homes built from 2009 on – perhaps only 55,000 over the course of 2009 and 2010 – should bring Ireland’s property market back into balance.”
Doctor Stephen Kinsella of the University of Limerick said the survey’s findings were good news for those living in rented accommodation.
“Everyone renting in Ireland will feel relief from the familiar pressure of ever-increasing rents,” he said.
“This decrease in rents will help their bank balances, and make them a little richer, and perhaps they will spend some of that extra money, and so help the economy out of the downturn.
Dr Kinsella concluded: “The rental price drops help those in some of the weakest positions in Irish society: those in need of short term accommodation in a high cost economy, migrants, and those on lower incomes.”
