'Reform is needed'- Waterford rent prices continue to increase amid nationwide surge

Daft.ie's latest Rental Report for the final quarter of 2024 has found that the cost of renting in Waterford has continued to rise amid housing shortages across the county and country. 

In Waterford City the average rent now stands at €1,651, with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.7%. In comparison to the same period in 2023, this is a massive 7.4% increase. Then when you look at the figures from before the Covid-19 pandemic, it's a staggering 61% growth. 

The average cost of rent in the wider county of Waterford is not much better at €1,646, a 0.8% quarter-on-quarter increase. Waterford County has, however, experienced a greater jump in price in comparison to the year before. Rental costs surged 10% in 2024 in comparison to 2023. This is a 70% jump from the pre-pandemic years. 

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The increasing costs reflect the lack of availability of rental properties across the province. According to the report, there were just over 360 homes available to rent in Munster on February 1, which is down 10% on the same date last year. 

The cost of renting a room in Munster was 3.7% higher on average in the final quarter of 2024 than a year earlier. Market rents rose by 9.4% in Munster which is actually down ever so slightly from 10.2%. 

Indeed, the report shows that rents are rising everywhere in the country once again. The report states: "Over the course of 2024, rents rose in 52 of the 54 markets covered in the country. This makes it the fourth year in a row – and tenth in the last 11 years – where at least 50 markets of the 54 covered saw rents rise."

With renters continuing to bear the brunt of rising costs, Ronan Lyons, Associate Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin, said: "With rents continuing to increase, as this report shows, and with a shortfall of at least 150,000 rental homes around the country – and perhaps as much as 200,000 – reform is needed sooner rather than later."