Latest Rent Index Reports 9.2% Annual Increase in Rents for New Tenancies in First Quarter of 2022

26 July 2022: The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) has published the Q1 2022 Rent Index report today for the period of January to March 2022. Independently analysed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the RTB Rent Index 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 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 important to note that the Rent Index is not designed to provide a measure of the rents being paid by existing tenants.

The Q1 2022 Rent Index is based on actual rents paid under 10,414 private tenancies which were newly registered with the RTB in Q1 2022. This is a decrease of 32% on the number of registered tenancies used in the sample in the Q1 2021 Rent Index (15,291). Dublin, and the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), accounted for over half (56.5%) of all new tenancy agreements registered in Q1 2022. Almost 61% of new tenancies registered were for apartments.

National Rental Trends

Nationally, the Q1 2022 Rent Index shows that the standardised average rent in newly registered tenancies was €1,460 per month, which is an increase of €46 compared to Q4 2021, which stood at €1,414. The quarterly growth rate represents a 3.3% increase. On a yearly basis, rents in these newly registered tenancies increased by 9.2%, which is higher than the yearly growth rate last quarter which was 8.5%.

In Q1 2022, the standardised average rent in new tenancies for houses in Ireland stood at €1,447 per month, which is an increase of 4.2% on Q4 2021 and a rise of 10.0% year-on-year. The standardised average rent in new tenancies for apartments stood at €1,498 per month in Q1 2022, which is an increase of 2.8% on Q4 2021, and an increase of 9.1% on Q1 2021.

Regional Trends

In the first quarter of 2022, the level of standardised average rents in new tenancies in Dublin stood at €2,015 per month compared to €1,127 per month outside Dublin (non-Dublin). The standardised average rent in new tenancies in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) stood at €1,472 in Q1 2022 while it was €1,081 outside the GDA. Year-on-year price increases in rents for new tenancies were lowest at 5.9% in the GDA and highest at 9.5% outside the GDA. Year-on-year increases in rents for new tenancies was 8.9% for Dublin.

The standardised average rent in new tenancies for houses in Q1 2022 was highest at €2,260 per month in Dublin and lowest at €1,113 per month outside the GDA. The standardised average rent in new tenancies for apartments in Q1 2022 was highest at €1,975 per month in Dublin and lowest at €1,054 per month outside the GDA. The lowest annual growth rates across the regions, for both houses and apartments, were recorded in the GDA, at 8.2 and 3.7 per cent, respectively.

County Developments

The highest standardised average rent in new tenancies for Q1 2022 was in Dublin at €2,015 per month while the lowest monthly rents were in Leitrim, where the standardised average rent in new tenancies stood at €734 per month.

Fourteen counties have standardised average rents in new tenancies above €1,000 per month in Q1 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 Q1 2022 was in Wicklow where rents grew by 1.3%. The county with the fastest growing standardised average rent in new tenancies in Q1 2022 was Leitrim which reported 22.4% year-on-year growth. Twelve counties had a yearly growth rate in new tenancy rents above 10% in Q1 2022.  

Niall Byrne, RTB Director, commenting on the release of the RTB Q1 2021 Rent Index said:

“The latest Rent Index, which is based on new tenancies registered with the RTB in the first quarter of 2022, shows continued growth in rents nationally with a yearly increase of 9.2%. We also see a continued fall in the number of tenancies that were registered with the RTB in Q1 2022. These results are likely still indirectly impacted by COVID-19 public health measures along with constraints in supply and tenants choosing to stay longer in their existing tenancies. In reading the Index, it is also important to note that these results only provide us with a snapshot into a small proportion of the private rental sector in Ireland.”

He continues:

“The RTB would like to remind landlords that annual registration was introduced on 4 April 2022 requiring landlords to register their tenancies on a yearly basis. We are aware that some RTB customers are experiencing difficulty in using our online registration system and in getting through to the RTB’s customer service centre. I would like to reassure all our customers that action is underway to improve the situation and that we in the RTB are committed to working in collaboration with the rental sector during the current period of transition. Annual registration will provide the RTB with greater visibility on rents for both existing and new tenancies. This will mean that the RTB will be better able to provide new insights and information to tenants, landlords and the wider public while also helping inform the development of residential rental sector policy.”

“As a final point, I’d like to highlight that there were new changes to rental legislation which took effect on 6 July 2022 in relation to how a landlord can end a tenancy. To find out what these changes mean for landlords and tenants, please visit our website at www.rtb.ie.”

Ends

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 Q1 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.

For tenancies that began before 24 December 2016, landlords were required to register a tenancy as a Part 4 Renewal after 4 years. However, for tenancies that have begun since 24 December 2016 landlords are required to register that tenancy as a Part 4 Renewal after 6 years. This change in the reporting timeframe means that no Part 4 Renewals are now due to be registered 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.

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 Q1 2022. This model includes characteristic variables** for the number of bedrooms, the property type, number of tenants, tenancy length and other characteristics.

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.

 

Q1 2022 Rent Index Results Overview

National (Page 12)

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

The Dublin Market (Page 17)

The Greater Dublin Area (GDA) (Page 17)

Outside the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) (Page 17)

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 following points relate to rental price developments 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 22)

Trend in Apartment Rent Prices (Page 23)

RTB Rental Sector Survey