Rents are only going up.

Rents in Cork continue to surge upwards, with the city seeing an increase of 6.9% in average rental prices compared to this time last year. The latest Daft.ie quarterly report, published today, found that the average rental property in Cork city costs €1,544 per month.

While this seems like a drastic increase, things are even worse outside the city. In the county of Cork, rents are up 14.6% on last year, and 3.4% compared to the previous three-month period. Rents in the county of Cork are €1,211 per month on average.

If there is any good news, it’s in the relative stability of the average rent of a single bedroom in Cork city centre, which is only 1.4% more expensive than this time last year. However, look at single bedrooms outside of the city and the price has gone up by 5.4%.

A double-bedroom in the city has similarly shot up by 4.9% in the last 12 months, and will likely set you back by €600 per month.

The report states that these latest increases means that Munster’s overall rents are now 15.6% higher than a year ago, the highest increase on record back to 2006. The Munster average is well above the national average of 6.7%

Author of the report Ronan Lyons says that the story of housing in Ireland remains one of “weak supply in the face of very strong demand.”

As far as a solution to Ireland’s overburdened housing market, Lyons offers: “The empirical evidence is unambiguous: more rental homes makes rental housing more affordable. Without new homes, we will still be discussing unaffordable rents in five years.”

The report can be read in full here.