Sickening news for anyone trying to rent in Ireland

A report by property website Daft.ie has found that rent prices in Ireland are now higher than they were during the economic boom period prior to the recession.

Not only have rent prices surpassed Celtic Tiger levels, they are at their highest level ever since rents have been recorded. An analysis of rent data in the second quarter of 2016 has shown that rents in Dublin are now 5.2% higher than they were at their previous peak in 2008. The bad news extends as far as Cork, where rent has been inflated by 18% in just the last year. It's a similar story in both Limerick and Galway, where rents have risen over the last 12 months by 15.5% and 13.9% respectively. Between the first and second quarter of 2016, rents rose by 4% - suggesting that the trend of rising rents is set to continue. This was the largest increase in rent price in over nine years. Furthermore, the study also found that there were roughly 3600 properties available to rent nationwide - just 32% of the amount available four years ago. Not a great time to be renting in Ireland.