This morning.
Simon Communities of Ireland published its latest Locked Out Of The Market report which looks at the gap between Rent Supplement/Housing Assistance Payment limits and market rents.
From the report…
According to the Daft.ie 2017 Quarter 4 Rental Report, rents rose nationwide by an average of 10.4% in the year to December 2017 bringing rents to an all-time high. This is down slightly from the 11.2% year-on-year increase recorded during Quarter 3 2017.
This follows cumulative increases in rent where rents have increased by approximately 65% since 2012. This most recent quarterly report shows that average national rents rose from €1,198 to €1,227 per month.
There were fewer than 3,150 properties available to rent nationwide on February 1st, down over 20% on the same date a year ago and the lowest recorded for this time of year.
There were 532 properties available to rent with no minimum cost, a minor decrease since the previous study in November 2017 when 538 properties were available to rent across all 11 areas.
This is a decrease of 54% when compared to May 2015, when the first Locked Out of the Market study was carried out and there were 1150 properties available. One year ago, 600 properties were available to rent with no minimum cost.
Ninety-three percent (493 properties) of all properties available to rent were above Rent Supplement/Housing Assistance Payment limits, this figure was 91.5% in November 2017, and 88% in March 2017.
Just 7% of all properties available to rent (39 properties) were available within the limits for the four categories included in this study, dropping from 8.5% (46 properties) in the November 2017 study, and 12% (72 properties) in the March 2017 study.
These figures clearly indicate that increases in RS/HAP limits introduced in July 2016 are becoming increasingly ineffectual, impacting the viability of social housing provision under the Rent Supplement and Housing Assistance Payment schemes.
There were three properties available to rent within Rent Supplement/Housing Assistance Payment RS/HAP limits across all study areas for a single person. This represents an increase of 3 properties since November 2017 and an increase of 1 property when compared to March 2017.
These properties were located in Sligo (2) and Waterford City Centre (1).
Three properties were available to rent within RS/HAP limits across all 11 areas for a couple over the course of the study representing an increase of 1 property since November 2017.
These properties were located in Sligo (1) and Dublin City Centre (2). Seven properties were available within this category in March 2017.
Of particular concern, Athlone, Galway City Centre, Portlaoise and Limerick City Centre recorded no properties available across all four-study categories, a record low across the ten study Locked Out series.
The report can be read in full here
