A WATERFORD property agent has lambasted a situation whereby just four properties are available for rent in Waterford city this morning (Thursday).
In her 25 years in the industry, Regina Mangan of Liberty Blue Estate Agents says she has never seen things as bad, with landlords "racing out of the market" and Government plans on housing being "political" rather than strategic or in the best interests of the country.
No student properties she said, are currently available and phones are "ringing off the hook".
"I suspect that because students were not around on account of Covid, all those rented properties - or the majority of them, were rented to non-students," Regina Mangan told Damien Tiernan on Deise Today.
"There are just four properties to rent in Waterford as we speak. If there are only four today, where are the rest magically going to appear from?" she said, adding her view that the situation will get worse rather than improve.
The Liberty Blue owner says that at the moment, Ireland is reliant on private landlords for the majority of rental stock.
Most of these landlords own only one or two properties, despite perceptions that real estate investment funds are dominating the market.
A lot of landlords, she said, were "accidental" landlords. They had either owned a property before they married, they'd been left a property as an inheritance or had bought a property with pension funds.
But with house sales so strong currently, a lot of these landlords were capitalising on that market and leaving the rental sector.
The Waterford estate agent called for "immediate action" to be taken with regard to Airbnb properties as homes for people are the primary need.
She said the Government needs to sit up and take notice as the situation is getting worse.
