THE HOUSING crisis is the “biggest human catastrophe in Limerick” outside the consistent overcrowding at University Hospital Limerick, a local councillor has said.
Labour Party councillor and general election candidate Conor Sheehan made the comments after the latest Daft.ie Rental Price Report this week showed that Limerick City has become the third most expensive city to rent in Ireland, with average rents now sitting at over €2,000 per month.
The city also was reported as having the largest year-on-year increase in average rents in the country.
The average rent in Limerick City is now €2,107 per month, the first time the figure in the city has crested €2,000 per month, according to the newest Daft.ie Rental Price Report.
The new figures marks a 21.2 per cent increase in rental prices year-on-year in the city, the biggest increase anywhere in the country.
However, according to Limerick auctioneer Pat Dooley of REA Dooley, the €2,000 per month average figure for Limerick is no surprise.
“In comparison with the whole of Ireland, it’s well above the average and I’m not hugely surprised,” Mr Dooley told the Limerick Post.
“A lot of landlords are still getting out of the market, it’s really a case of supply and demand. We’re met with unprecedented demand on a daily basis for rental properties, and our supply has never been as low.”
‘The housing market in Limerick is a mess’
Rents in Limerick City now stand behind only Dublin City Centre, with an average rent of €2,377, and Galway City on €2,114 per month.
Looking at the longer term, the Daft report showed that the current rental average in Limerick City is up 70 per cent on pre-Covid figures, with a similar figure reported for Limerick County, where rental prices were up 68 per cent on pre-Covid rates, both the highest figures in Munster.
Reacting to the figures, Cllr Sheehan told the Limerick Post that the housing crisis in Limerick is “the biggest human catastrophe in Limerick, outside of the situation at UHL”.
“The housing market in Limerick is a mess and has never recovered from the collapse during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Cllr Sheehan said.
Cllr Sheehan also hit out at a vote by his elected colleagues in Limerick City and County Council to defer discussions on Mayor John Moran’s draft plans for the county over the next five years – which included measures to address housing supply on Shannonside.
“The Mayor has measures to add housing to Limerick, but this dilly-dallying is only holding things up,” Cllr Sheehan reflected on the controversial vote by his Council colleagues this past Monday.
Nationally, Leitrim was the county with the highest post-Covid rental price increase across Ireland, with rents now 90 per cent higher than before the pandemic.
In County Limerick, the average rent now stands at €1,564 per month, an increase of 12.3 per cent year-on-year.
Single bed within arm’s reach of the oven
A search on Daft.ie this Monday (August 26) showed that there was just 16 properties to rent in Limerick City, with no properties available for under €1,000 per month.
The most expensive property was a two-bedroom house in Corbally costing €4,000 per month.
A three-bedroom apartment in Riverdock House on the Dock Road was advertised for €3,000 per month, with another two-bedroomed apartment in the same building advertised for €2,450.
A studio apartment on Henry Street, where the single bed was within arm’s reach of the oven, was advertised for €1,023 per month.
“The housing market in Limerick is completely broken whether you are a private renter or a first time buyer and this is something that is adversely affecting people under the age of 40. It is time for radical change because more of the same has not and will not work,” Cllr Sheehan told the Limerick Post.
The Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) system, which was introduced to keep rents low across Ireland, and now covers all of Limerick City and County, is only making rent more expensive, according to Pat Dooley, who called for a more fair system of taxation to be explored to stem the exodus of landlords from the private rental market.
“It’s plain to see (that prices are higher) on new rental postings, that’s why you’re seeing such little stuff coming to the market,” Mr Dooley explained.
“If you’re on Daft.ie or MyHome.ie browsing, you probably only see 10 or 20 properties to rent in all of Limerick City and County, and most of them are just way above people’s affordability.
“If it’s a first time let, they’re (landlords) going to try and exhaust the market on their rental capabilities so that in 12 months’ time or two years’ time when the property comes up for relet they have a sizeable rental value to work off.”
