The Government has been accused of "los[ing] control of the rental market" after new figures showed that rents in Dublin have jumped to an average of €2,170 a month.
The claim was made after the latest Daft.ie rental report showed that rents have skyrocketed up at their highest ever rate in the second quarter of this year. And Ireland has its lowest number of properties to rent since the same report began 15 years ago.
The latest grim outlook comes as it was recently revealed that notices to quit from landlords are also jumping substantially in the last 12 months. The number of notices to quit leaped countrywide to 1,781 in the second quarter of 2022 - a significant jump from 1,132 issued in Q1 this year.
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Calls have previously been made to Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien to hold an urgent meeting to address the crisis in the rental sector, with the latest report called "deeply troubling". Sinn Fein housing spokesman Eoin O Broin said that the new records are something that renters never want to see.
He said: "It is clear that Darragh O’Brien and the Government have lost control of the housing market. Two years in office and almost a year into his housing plan and Darragh O’Brien is presiding over record highs in rents, house prices and homelessness. Meanwhile, social and affordable housing is well behind target and the private rental sector is shrinking.
"Budget 2023 is the Minister's last chance to make the level of change required to fix our deepening housing crisis. We need a dramatic increase in funding to deliver 20,000 social and affordable homes every year for the next decade. We need emergency action to reduce homelessness and slow down the disorderly exit of landlords from the private rental sector.
"It is not clear whether the Minister understands the depths of the crisis he is perpetuating. If we don’t see real change in September then this Government's days are numbered."
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said: “The Government acknowledges rents are very high in many areas as a result of pent-up pressures and supply constraints. Government’s Housing for All plan is focused on tackling supply and affordability issues in the rental market. The plan contains targets, actions and guaranteed State investment of over €4 billion a year in housing aimed at increasing supply, which in turn will help increase access to affordable rental housing.”
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