Average rent hits €1,060 nationwide at slowest growth rate in a year
The Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy has welcomed what he calls a slow down in the rate of rent inflation.
Mr Murphy said that the Residential Tenancies Board's Rent Index Report shows we have the slowest national growth rate in a year at just 0.4%.
The average rent for new tenancies stands at €1,060 nationwide, while this rises to €1,527 in Dublin.
The Simon Community says the figures show that rents went up by 7.1% annually nationally in the first quarter of this year, compared to 2017.
The organisation's National Spokesperson Niamh Randall says it shows the rental market is under huge pressure.
''The figures that were released last night really show us a rental system that is broken, and we know in the Simon Communities that this is causing homelessness in the first place, but it is also preventing people from leaving homelessness,'' she said.
''Yet again, we saw rents increase nationally by 7.1%, so clearly we need to focus on preventing people from becoming homeless at this point in time because there is huge pressure across the private rented sector.''
