Rents climb even higher as supply remains tight in Louth

Market rents in Louth were on average 6.4% higher in the first quarter of 2025 than a year previously, according to the latest Rental Report by Daft.ie, with the average listed rent now €1869, up 49% from the level prevailing when the Covid 19 pandemic occurred.

Supply remains an issue in Louth, with just 42 properties available to rent in the county on 20 May on the Daft.ie website, the day after the report was published. A breakdown of the average monthly rents for different size properties in Louth, with the annual change in price for each is as follows:

• One bed apartment - €1,199 - up 7.2%
• Two bed house - €1,426 - up 4.1%
• Three bed house - €1,697 - up 5.8%
• Four bed house - €1,941 - up 4.3%
• Five bed house - €2,064 - down 2.7%

Nationally, market rents rose by an average of 3.4% in the first three months of 2025. The average open-market rent nationwide in the first quarter of 2025 was €2,053 per month, up from a low of just €765 in 2011 and 48% higher than before the outbreak of Covid 19.

There were just over 2,300 homes available to rent nationwide on May 1st, down 14% year-on-year. This is the third lowest total for May in twenty years and close to half the 2015-2019 average for availability of homes to rent. 

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Commenting on the report, its author Ronan Lyons, Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin, said:“The average open-market rent nationwide exceeds €2,000 a month for the first time, up from below €1,400 a month just five years ago. The sustained increases in rents in the open market are being driven by an acute and worsening shortage of rental housing.

"Unfortunately, changes made to rent controls in 2021 dramatically reduced the ability of Ireland’s rental sector to attract the capital needed for new supply, the ultimate remedy for the shortage. The opportunity exists for the government to reform those controls and facilitate the emergence of a new pipeline of rental homes. Nonetheless, further supports will be needed to encourage new rental supply outside of the Greater Dublin Area.”