The supply of homes to rent across the State has reached by far its lowest level in 20 years for the month of February, while national rents increased by 4.4 per cent last year, a report from Daft.ie shows.
The group’s latest rental report, which is mostly a review of last year, shows the rate of inflation grew from 3.6 per cent in 2024, although it was below the rates seen in the previous three years, which included a peak of 12.3 per cent in 2023.
However, the data remains stark, with market rents now 34 per cent above pre-Covid levels, 68 per cent above their Celtic Tiger peak and 79 per cent higher than a decade ago.
The increase in prices since the pandemic has been uneven geographically, with an increase of 18 per cent in Dublin but as high as 77 per cent in Connacht-Ulster.
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The average monthly rent nationwide for a two-bedroom apartment in December was €2,086.
There were a total of 1,777 homes for rent nationwide on February 1st, down 22 per cent on the same date a year earlier. That was the lowest total for the beginning of February since the start of the series in 2006 – and well below the previous low of 2,211 recorded in 2023.
Supply in all markets is less than half that of 2015-2019. It is down 72 per cent in the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, and down 75 per cent in Connacht-Ulster. The picture in Dublin isn’t much better, where supply has declined 52 per cent.
In the third quarter, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin was €2,438. Market rents in the capital are now 18 per cent above their pre-Covid levels and 55 per cent above their Celtic Tiger peak.
Trinity College economics professor Ronan Lyons, who authored the report, said the period of relative respite for Dublin has ended.
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“For much of the past two years, Dublin stood apart from the rest of the country,” he said. “A wave of new rental supply, in large apartment schemes, eased pressure in the capital, delivering unusually low rent inflation by recent standards.
“In both 2023 and 2024, rent growth in Dublin was well below that seen elsewhere, even as shortages intensified across much of the country.
“The data for 2025 show that this period of relative relief has come to an end. On February 1st, there were just 859 homes available to rent in Dublin, down 29 per cent year-on-year and the lowest February figure on record.”
As supply has tightened, price pressures have begun to re-emerge, Lyons said. Market rents in Dublin rose by 3 per cent in 2025, up from 2.2 per cent in 2024, while room rents increased by 4.9 per cent compared with little more than 1 per cent in each of the previous two years.
“This re-tightening highlights how quickly supply-side gains can be absorbed in a market with strong underlying demand,” Lyons said. “Without a sustained pipeline of new rental homes, temporary improvements in availability do not translate into lasting affordability.
“With inflation in Dublin drifting back up towards rates seen elsewhere, Ireland’s rental market is re-synchronising – but not because conditions are improving.
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“Instead, 2025 marks a year in which supply shortages once more became acute across all regions, including Dublin, while rent levels remain far above their pre-pandemic benchmarks.”
More broadly, Lyons said “widespread uncertainty” about the new rent controls “appears to have exacerbated ongoing supply shortages in the rental market”.
Across the four big cities other than Dublin, market rents rose by an average of 9.2 per cent during 2025, compared with 5.4 per cent in 2024.
In the third quarter, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in those four cities was €1,951. Market rents there are now on average 57 per cent above their pre-Covid levels and twice their Celtic Tiger peak.
