Offaly hit by another significant rise in rent prices over the last year

If you're looking to rent a home in Offaly you'll be met with extremely limited supply and an average asking price of €1,158, according to the latest report from property site Daft.ie.

The website's report for the first quarter of 2022 indicated that the shortage of available property was continuing to worsen, contributing to an almost 15% rise in the rents being sought in Offaly when compared with this time last year.

The average listed rent in Offaly is now more than double what it was at its lowest point after the collapse of the Celtic Tiger (a 109% increase).

Rents across the counties of Offaly, Westmeath, Laois and Longford rose by 14.05% on average over the last year, reflecting the sharp fall in the availability of houses and apartments for letting.

Offaly had the second highest year-on-year price rise in the province, behind Longford.

There were just 132 homes available to rent on Daft.ie in Leinster (outside Dublin) on May 1, which was down two-thirds on the same day in 2021, and was by far the lowest ever recorded for the region since these figures started being recorded in 2006.

Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin, said it appeared that for renters seeking to move home, things had never been so grim.

"In some ways, for Ireland’s rental sector, it’s like the pandemic never happened," he stated.

"As Covid-19 moves from a shock that brought daily life to a standstill, to something more like part of daily life, pre-existing patterns and pressures are re-emerging in the rental market."

He concluded that a major increase in the number of rental homes being built was the only real answer to the current crisis.

"As ever, in a rental market dogged by chronic and worsening shortage of homes, the only real solution is to increase the number of homes.

"With more pressure from certain quarters to stop new rental homes being built, policymakers must hold their nerve," stated Mr Lyons.