Average monthly rent now 2,055 euro per month, new figures show

Rents climbed by an average 1.6% in the second quarter of the year, with the national monthly average now 2,055 euro per month, new figures show.

According to the latest quarterly rental report by Daft.ie, the cost of renting jumped for the 18th consecutive quarter.

The average open-market rent nationwide between April and June was 2,055 euro per month, up from a low of just 765 euro in 2011 and 51% higher than before the outbreak of Covid-19.

In recent years, rents in Dublin had been rising at a slower pace than elsewhere, reflecting the impact of both the pandemic in reshaping location preferences and significant new purpose-built supply coming on stream more recently.

However, with the volume of new supply slowing considerably, inflation in the capital, at 6.5%, is now close to the average seen in the rest of the country, at 7.3%.

There remains significant pressure in the rental markets of Ireland’s other cities.

In Galway city, rents were up 8.5% year on year, while in Cork city, they increased by 11.8% in the same period.

Inflation was even greater in Waterford city, which jumped by 12.5%, and, as has consistently been the case in recent quarters, Limerick city saw the highest inflation, at 14.9%.

Outside the five major cities, rents rose by an average of 6.2% over the last year.

There were almost 2,300 homes available to rent nationwide on August 1.

This is down 14% year-on-year and close to half the 2015-2019 average for availability of homes to rent.

The author of the report, Ronan Lyons, professor in economics at Trinity College Dublin, said: “As has consistently been the case over the past 15 years, the substantial increases in rents are being driven by extreme scarcity of rental housing, relative to underlying need.

“Since the last report, the government has moved to relax some of the strictest aspects of Ireland’s rent controls.

“While this is likely to help boost investment in new rental supply, those changes will not take effect until next year.

“Further, Ireland’s lengthy planning process means that it will be a number of years before any increase in supply is meaningful enough to start addressing the large deficit of rental housing in the country.”

He added: “At first glance, there is little to be cheery about in this latest Sales Report for those hoping to an end to Ireland’s chronic housing system woes.

“Inflation in the listed price of properties is at a 10-year high.

“In the year to March, the average listed price nationally rose by 12.3%.

“Such a rate hasn’t been seen in the market since the first quarter of 2015, during the spike in prices that prompted the Central Bank to introduce the mortgage market rules.

“Then, it was Dublin, and its hinterland and the other cities, that led price growth.

“In Munster (outside the cities), inflation was at just 2% at the end of 2014, compared to 20% in Dublin.

“This time, however, perhaps closer to the spike in inflation that occurred in 2017, it is far more broadly based.

“While inflation in Connacht-Ulster is lower than elsewhere (8.8%), the market is seeing double-digit increases in prices more or less across the board, with the Dublin inflation rate as of late June indistinguishable from the national average or from the ex-Dublin average (all 12.3%).

“The underlying reason is largely unchanged.

“There are simply too few homes on the market at the moment.

“On top of an insufficient number of new homes being built, there are also not enough second-hand homes being traded.”

Average market rents, per month, and year-on-year change, in the second quarter of 2025:

Dublin: 2,583 euro, up 6.5%
Cork city: 2,241 euro, up 11.8%
Limerick city: 2,422 euro, up 14.9%
Galway city: 2,295 euro, up 8.5%
Waterford city: 1,818 euro, up 12.5%
Rest of the country: 1,670 euro, up 6.2%