Rents are rising fast in the commuter counties around Dublin because householders on average incomes cannot afford to live in the capital, according to latest quarterly rental report by Daft.ie.
Rent inflation in commuter counties has almost doubled in a year from 7.6 per cent as measured from January 2013 to January 2014 to 14.1 per cent from December 2013 to December 2014.
Rent increases have moderated in Dublin from 16.5 per cent year on year in April to 10 per cent by January 2015.
However, the trend has been upwards since 2011. As a result, rents in Dublin are just 6 per cent below their 2007 peak.
In the other city centres, rents continue to rise but at a slightly slower pace. In Cork city, rents are 7.3 per cent higher than last year. In Galway they are 7 per cent higher, Limerick has seen a 6.2 per cent rise while in Waterford city rental inflation was at 5.1 per cent in the final three months of 2014.
Ronan Lyons, economist at TCD and author of the Daft report, said the acute shortage of rental properties in Dublin is causing a flight to the commuter counties.
“The slow-down in rental inflation in Dublin at a time when new listings are sluggish suggests that a limit to affordability has been reached there. Over the last 12 months, availability has stabilised in Dublin at very low levels, while it has tightened further in the commuter counties,” he said.
