On Monday's Déise Today, Damien was chatting to a number of Waterford auctioneers about the recent news that rent prices are at an all time high in Waterford. In the city the average rent is at around 968 euro which is up around 13.6% while in the county its 928 which is up by 16%.
The report says 500 new rental properties need to be built every single week for the next three years in Dublin alone — a total of 80,000 over the period.
Report author Ronan Lyons says the solution is to encourage private developers to build and institutional investors to become landlords.
That conflicts with the view of many housing rights advocates that the bulk of new homes should be provided by the State through social housing programmes and by non-profit bodies.
Whatever the solution, the problem is clear — there are too few rental properties available to meet the demand and rents are rising far in excess of general inflation, further limiting the choices of hard-pressed renters.
According to the report, from property website Daft.ie, the average monthly rent being paid nationally is now €1,366 but there is huge variation within that figure as it covers both rural and urban addressess and properties of all sizes.
A family needing to rent a three-bedroom house faces an array of different rents depending on where they need to live.
Hefty increases are also evident in the rent-a-room market. A single bedroom in a shared property now costs €364 in Waterford, €700 a month in Dublin city centre, and city centre prices are also high in Cork at €491; Galway, €419; and Limerick, €371 .
If you want to listen to that interview you can just click here.
https://soundcloud.com/wlrfmwaterford/deise-today-13th-may-waterford-rent-prices-being-at-there-all-time-high-in-the-county
Apart from that on Monday's show, Damien reviewed the Waterford vs Clare hurling match from the weekend with Fergal Hartley and Gavin Whelan and we also had reports from the Darkness Into Light events that took place throughout the country.
If you want to listen to the full version of the show you can just click here.
https://soundcloud.com/wlrfmwaterford/deise-today-13th-may-2019
