Mayo experiences highest rent increases in the country

THE cost of renting in Mayo has soared by 24.3 per cent since this time last year - the highest year-on-year increase of any county in Ireland. 

According to Daft.ie's latest Rental Price Report, the average cost of renting a property in Mayo now stands at €1,222, a 5.7 increase on the previous quarter. 

This is substantially higher than the national average year-on-year of increase of 10.7, while average national rents rose by 2.4 percent between March and June. 

The cost of renting in the county has risen by 10 per cent since the start of the year and is now 136 per cent higher than Daft.ie's lowest recorded figure. 

Today (August 10 2023), there are only 19 rental properties on the property website, with none available in Ballinrobe. 

The price of renting a one-bedroom apartment in Mayo has risen by 17.5 per cent to €799, with a two-bedroom house rising to by 26.0 per cent to €979 while the cost of a three-bedroom house rose by 23.7 per cent to €1,110.

The cost of renting a four-bedroom house rose by 25.7 per cent to €1,276 while the average rent for a five-bedroom house went up by 22.3 per cent to €1,379.

The Daft.ie report found the cost of renting a three-bedroom house in Mayo (€1,110) to be €488 dearer than paying an average monthly mortgage for a similar property (€622)

Ronan Lyons, author of the report, said the Connacht-Ulster region had 'borne the brunt' of the rental increases, adding that 'costs are prohibitively high for standard private rental accommodation to be built anywhere outside of Dublin for the foreseeable future'. 

Rents across the Connacht-Ulster region have risen by 5.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, the largest quarterly increase in the region ever recorded by Daft.ie. 

Other counties in Connacht also experienced year-on-year increases in the cost of rent, with Sligo (16 per cent), Roscommon (22.8 per cent), Galway County (21.4 per cent), Donegal (22.2 per cent), Leitrim (20.2 per cent) all seeing double figure percentage increases. 

Totally unaffordable

MAYO Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh has called for action to address the cost of renting in Mayo, which she described as 'totally unaffordable' for people on average salaries. 

"People need a break from sky high rents now. It’s clear that government has totally lost control of the housing market. Government has failed to deliver a sufficient volume of social and affordable homes. Their controversial policies such as Help to Buy and the Shared Equity Loan have pushed up house prices," stated Deputy Conway-Walsh. 

“Meanwhile, ordinary people in Mayo are left paying the price for Government’s failures. People in Mayo are trapped paying out of control rents, or living in cramped accommodation while they watch their dream of home ownership continue to slip even further out of reach."