Rents in Louth and Dundalk continue upward trend

The latest Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) Rent Index for Q3 2024 has revealed that rental prices in Louth, including Dundalk, have continued to rise, albeit at a slower pace compared to other counties. The data highlights the ongoing pressures in the local rental market, with new tenancies in Dundalk and surrounding areas showing modest increases.

According to the RTB report, the standardised average rent for new tenancies in Louth stood at €1,353 in Q3 2024, reflecting an annual increase of 2.8%. This places Louth among the counties with the slowest rental growth in the country, alongside Carlow and Wexford. However, for existing tenancies, the average rent was recorded at €1,203, representing a 4.5% year-on-year increase. 

The report also showed that there was a 12.5 per cent or €150 per month difference between new and existing tenancy standardised average rents in Louth in Q3.

Breaking it down further, Dundalk and its local electoral areas showed variation in rental prices:

• Dundalk-Carlingford: Standardised average rent for new tenancies stood at €1,304, while existing tenancies averaged €1,177.
• Dundalk South: New tenancies saw an average rent of €1,404, with existing tenancies slightly lower at €1,199.
• Ardee: Existing tenancies recorded an average rent of €1,103, though data on new tenancies was limited.
• Drogheda Urban: New tenancies had an average rent of €1,408, while existing tenancies were at €1,237.

While the growth rate in Louth is relatively lower compared to some other counties, the price gap between new and existing tenancies remains significant.

The RTB has also been actively working on improving compliance with rental regulations. Louth was one of the counties targeted in a recent campaign aimed at identifying unregistered tenancies. With an estimated 2,422 Approved Housing Body (AHB) tenancies in Louth by the end of Q4 2024, the RTB has ramped up efforts to ensure landlords adhere to registration and rent pressure zone (RPZ) rules.

Read Next: 2025 St Patrick’s Day parade to showcase the best of Dundalk

Rosemary Steen, Director of the Residential Tenancies Board said:

“Today we are pleased to share the most complete set of data available on the state of Ireland’s rental sector. This information may challenge some common narratives on the housing sector, but it is based on current data from the RTB’s national register of tenancies and from RTB administrative datasets. 

“Tenancies that are not captured in this data are unregistered tenancies, and those landlords are breaking the law. We continue to target non-compliant landlords through our ongoing compliance work and two significant registration and RPZ compliance campaigns.”

Emer Morrissey, Head of Compliance and Enforcement with the RTB said:

“The RTB takes any failure to comply with rental law seriously. In 2024, we have worked to build our capacity to identify non-compliant landlords at scale through data sharing with Government departments and agencies such as Revenue, and through commissioning new research. 

“This data has informed two recent large-scale campaigns targeting failure to register and breaches of RPZ rules. Where we see deliberate and ongoing non-compliance following education and engagement, we are committed to using our full powers under the Residential Tenancies Act to investigate and sanction landlords.”