Laois rents fall but very few new leases signed as average still exceeds €1,000

Costs faced by new renters in Laois fell in 2022 but so to did supply and the county is one of fourteen counties the average rents of a new tenancies was above €1,000 per month with Portlaoise the most expensive place to try to rent, according to new official figures.

That's one of the many findings in the rent costs published by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) Rent Index on Thursday, March 16. The Rent Index covers the period from summer into autumn last year. It also show that rents are on the rise in all parts of Laois peaking in Portlaoise above the county average.

The Quarter 3 2022 figures also show that Laois had the lowest share of newly registered tenancies recorded from July to September last.

Report shows that the standardised average rent of a new tenancy in Laois from July to September was €1,045.06 a month in 2022. That put Laois alongside Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow for counties with rents above €1,000 on average.

When contrasted with bordering counties, Laois had higher rents than Carlow, Offaly, Tipperary and Kilkenny. It was about €500 cheaper then Kildare.

However, the rent fell by nearly 7% from the €1,120.84 being charged by landlords to new tenants in Laois in April, May and June 2022.

However, when compared to the same quarter in 2021, rents rose in 2022 by 1% from €1034.66 which was being charged through the late summer and early autumn of 2021. At the same time this was the third lowest rate of increase in the country.

While this is a good sign, the supply is still a problem. There was a 10% fall in the number of new tenancies compared - the second lowes in the country compared to a 60% rise in Longford.

Laois also had just 0.8% of the national share of tenancies in the third quarter of 2022. This was the lowest in the country.

The report also breaks down rental costs by local electoral area.

The report showed that rents had risen by more than 7% for three consecutive in the Borris-In-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District area. The rent there was €970.54 from July through to September last year.

Over the same three months new Portlaoise rents at risen to €1,058.38. The cost of renting in the county town where there is the biggest demand for housing had risen by more than 7% for two consecutive quarters.

The cost of renting in the Graiguecullen to Portarlington are was just above the county average at €1,045.92 per month. The cost of renting in the district which borders, Kildare, Offaly, Carlow and Kilkenny had risen by more than 7% across three consecutive quarters.

Laois is not classed as part of the Greater Dublin Area for rent analysis.

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Nationally, the standardised average rent in newly registered tenancies was €1,482 per month, which is an increase of €22 compared to Q2 2022, which stood at €1,460. On a yearly basis, rents in these tenancies increased by 6.7%.

The standardised average rent in new tenancies for houses in Ireland stood at €1,468 per month, which is an increase of 1.3% on Q2 2022 and a rise of 6.8% year-on-year. The average rent for apartments stood at €1,513 per month in Q3 2022, which is an increase of 1.6% on Q2 last year, and an increase of 6.7% on the same three months of 2021..

The county figures show that the highest average rent in new tenancies for Q3 2022 was in Dublin at €2,022 per month while the lowest monthly rents were in Donegal where the average stood at €809 per month.

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The lowest yearly growth was in Kilkenny where rents fell by 0.3%. Carlow had the second-lowest yearly growth rate, with rents falling by 0.2%. The county with the fastest growing rent was Kerry which reported 16.5% year-on-year growth. 

The RTB says its rent figures are independently analysed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the RTB Rent Index report is based on the total number of private tenancies newly registered with RTB each quarter. The RTB says the Index provides rental indicators based on actual rents paid for new tenancies in the private rental sector in Ireland.

The Rent Index report is based on new tenancies in existing rental properties, new properties being let for the first time, and new tenancies in properties that have not been let in the previous two years. It is not designed to provide a measure of the rents being paid by existing tenants. The term “new tenancies” refers to a new rental agreement between a landlord and tenant.

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This Rent Index is based on actual rents paid under 19,539 private tenancies which were newly registered with the RTB in Q3 2022. This is an increase of 0.8% on the number of registered tenancies used in the sample in the Q3 2021 Rent Index (19,389). 

The RTB which is an independent, public body that registers tenancies, resolves disputes and regulates the rental sector.