Um.

This morning.

The Residential Tenancies Board’s  published its Q4 2021 Rent Index revealing the cost of new tenancies has increased by 9% nationally in the final quarter of 2021.

The average cost of new tenancies in Dublin is now nearly €2,000 per month – an increase of 100pc since 2011, when average rents were €985.

Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan said:

“Based on these figures, renters in Dublin today will pay €12,000 more in rent per annum than they did in 2011 – and that’s just the annual increase. The average annual amount they will spend on rent in Dublin is nearly €24,000.

“For context, workers on the minimum wage – a paltry €10.50 per hour – earn just €21,840 in a year. How are workers on the minimum wage – and there are plenty of them – supposed to survive when average rental costs now exceed their annual gross pay?

“Rents are now unsustainable, not just in Dublin, but all over the country…There were double digit rental increases in 14 counties in the final quarter of last year.

“Another alarming figure from the RTB report is that the number of new tenancies, at the end of last year, had dropped by nearly 50pc. This indicates that renters are staying longer in their tenancies, given the volatility of the market, and that there has been an exodus of landlords from the market.”

Report here