Kilkenny market rents on average 13.3% higher than a year previously

Market rents were on average 13.3% higher in the second quarter of 2024 than a year previously in Kilkenny. The average listed rent is now €1,544, up 54% from the level prevailing when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred.

Nationwide, market rents rose by an average of 2% in the second quarter of 2024, according to the latest Rental Report by Daft.ie. This marks the fourteenth consecutive quarter in which rents nationwide have increased and the 45th time in the last 48 quarters. The average open-market rent nationwide in the second quarter of the year was €1,922 per month, up 7.3% year-on-year and 41% higher than before the outbreak of Covid-19.
READ MORE: RENTS RISING HIGHER THAN A YEAR PREVIOUSLY

Inflation in market rents remains significantly lower in Dublin than elsewhere in the country. In the capital, rents in the second quarter of the year were 3.5% higher than a year earlier, while elsewhere in the country, they were on average 10.6% higher. Market rents rose particularly sharply in Limerick City (up 21% year-on-year) but the three other cities also saw double-digit increases, ranging from 13% in Galway to 10% in Waterford. Outside the cities, the rate of increase was similar, on average, between 9.3% in Munster and 10.5% in Connacht-Ulster.

As has consistently been the case in recent years, availability on the rental market remains extremely tight. On August 1, there were just over 2,200 homes available to rent across the country, effectively unchanged on the same date a year previously and half the 2015-2019 average of 4,400. 

“Between mid-2022 and mid-2023, a slow-down in inflation in open-market rents occurred, driven by Dublin and in particular by the construction of significant numbers of new rental homes in the Dublin area. However, as seen by very rates of inflation in market rents in the other cities, this was limited to the capital, where new supply was concentrated," said Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft.ie Report.

"This most recent reports suggests that, even in Dublin, improvement in the availability of rental homes is stalling. Without new rental supply, it is likely that future pressure on rents will be upward, further straining affordability for those on regular incomes. It remains incumbent on policymakers to first develop a thorough understanding of rental supply dynamics and second devise detailed plan on dramatically increasing rental supply, in all major rental markets, over the coming years.”