Rents up for first time in five years, as cities put pressure on supply
Rents have increased for the first time in five years.
According to a report from Daft.ie, the average national rent rose 2.2% last year.
The property website said the jump was driven by rental rates in Dublin, Cork and Galway.
However, Daft.ie economist Ronan Lyons said rents elsewhere were still falling.
"This marks a turning point in the rental market, but there's a clear division between the urban and smaller rental markets," he said.
Lyons added the report also showed a shortage of rental properties in urban areas.
"Clearly a lot of the country is still dealing with the glut of properties that we built up to 2008, but that's not the case in urban centres," he said.
"There are fewer properties in the rental market in Dublin now, than at any point over the last five years.
"We do need new properties, whether they're sitting in the stocks that Nama has, or whether we need to build new (ones)."
