Dublin rents now higher than 2007 bubble peak: rent index

In Dublin city, rents are now slightly higher than their 2007 bubble peaks, according to the latest rent index released on Thursday.

The latest rent index from Ireland's Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) showed that rents in Dublin are now 0.2 percent higher than their previous bubble peak in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The RTB, set up in 2004, operates a national tenancy registration system and resolves disputes between landlords and tenants. It also provides policy advice to the government on the private rented sector, and its dispute resolution service replaces the courts in relation to the majority of landlord and tenant disputes.

According to the RTB data, the market outside Dublin has experienced more subdued growth and rental levels are now 13.9 percent off their peak level.

The RTB data also showed rents for the country as a whole were 8.6 percent higher in the first three months of this year, compared with the first quarter of 2015.

Rents for houses were 7.8 percent higher, while apartment rents were 9.8 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2015. Annual growth in the Dublin market was also strong, up by 8.7 percent overall, with Dublin house rents up 8.4 percent and Dublin apartment rents up 8.1 percent between the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016.

The Irish real estate sector has been seriously affected by the burst of the bubble. The bubble was an extreme increase in the price of real estate from the late 1990s to 2007 in a period known as the Celtic Tiger. The fall in domestic and commercial property prices contributed to the Irish banking crisis. Endit