It’s still heading in the wrong direction.

Ireland’s renters are paying more and more for the scant few properties available on the market.

According to the latest  Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), Rent Index, which measures rental price developments faced by those taking up new tenancies in the private rental sector, there was a 6.7 percent annual increase in rents for new tenancies in the third quarter of 2022.

This Rent Index is based on actual rents paid under 19,539 private tenancies which were newly registered with the RTB in Q3 2022.

While rent levels are not quite as steep as they are in Dublin City, where new tenants are paying an average €1,957 per month, the standardised average rent for new tenancies in Cork City stands at €1,413.

That’s an increase of 2.2 percent on the previous quarter.

If you work from home or you don’t mind a commute, it’s wise to focus your house hunting outside the city. The standardised average rent in new tenancies in Cork City was €301 higher than in Cork County (€1,112).

County developments

The highest standardised average rent in new tenancies for Q3 2022 was in Dublin at €2,022 per month while the lowest monthly rents were in Donegal where the standardised average stood at €809 per month.

Fourteen counties have standardised average rents in new tenancies above €1,000 per month in Q3 2022: Cork, Carlow, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow.