House rents in Ireland 7 pct higher than boom-time peak recorded decade ago

DUBLIN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The national average house rent in Ireland has risen 7 percent higher than the boom-time peak recorded a decade ago, said a government agency here on Wednesday.

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), a government-run organization responsible for registering tenancies and dealing with disputes between tenants and landlords in Ireland, said that the monthly house rent paid by new tenants in the country reached a national average of 1,056 euros (1,254 U.S. dollars) in the third quarter of 2017, up nearly 7 percent compared with the previous high of 988 euros recorded in the last quarter of 2007.

In Dublin, the capital of the country, the average monthly rent paid was 1,518 euros, up 9.8 percent compared with the third quarter of last year, with the average in the greater Dublin area (Meath, Wicklow and Kildare) standing at 1,086 euros, a 6.5 percent increase over a year ago, said the RTB.

The house rent in Ireland witnessed a sharp decline after the global financial crisis. However, the local house rental market has witnessed a consistent rise after hitting the lowest point of 746 euros per month in the first quarter of 2012.

Rosalind Carroll, Director of the RTB, attributed the recovery of the Irish house rental market mainly to demographic and economic growth matched with low levels of supply in the country.

She said that nearly 30,000 new tenancies were registered across the country in the July-September period of this year, 6,000 more compared with the same period of last year, adding that the rapid rise in demand would continue to put significant pressure on the private rental market and those trying to find a place to live in the country. (1 euro = 1.19 U.S. dollars) Enditem