Rent prices at an all time high forcing hard-up tenants to seek help from charities
Irish hit by crippling sky-high prices have no-where else to turn
THE number of young people turning to charities for help to help them pay their rent has gone through the roof after prices hit an all-time high this year.
One housing charity claims that a staggering 705 people in Dublin, Cork and Galway have already sought its help this year over the crippling rent rises.
At a rate of three people a day, Threshold says the figure works out to a 28 per cent hike in the numbers contacting the service last year.
The most recent property report in Ireland shows average monthly rents nationwide have now hit 1,037 euro - up 10 per cent on last year and the most expensive ever.
Between April and June this year, average rents jumped at their highest rate since the property-boom peak in 2007.
Stephen Large, manager of Threshold, said the report also confirms double-digit rent rises are no longer just a Dublin phenomenon but have become the norm nationally.
"The rate of increase shows no sign of slowing any time soon, and rents are becoming increasingly unaffordable for many tenants," he warned.
"In extreme cases, rent increases can lead to tenancy breakdown or even homelessness."
A recent change in law has forced landlords to restrict rent rises to every two years and caps them at local rates but the charity insists more needs to be done.
But Housing Minister Simon Coveney claims the change in law may actually be to blame for the record rent hikes.
"Figures from the Daft report today are new rentals - they are not monitoring existing rentals that are in a two-year cycle in terms of rent reviews," he said.
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"Some people would make the case that, because rents are now frozen for a two-year period, when people are setting new rent prices they are trying to anticipate rental inflation, which has had an impact on the market."
Mr Coveney said tenants already in good accommodation are being helped by the new measures but insisted moves towards a rent freeze would not do any good.
"The main problem here is there simply isn't enough accommodation in term of supply so the conditions have to be there to encourage significant investment in large-scale rental accommodation," he added.
In Dublin, rents increased by more than 11 per cent over the last year with the average property in the capital costing 1,520 euro a month.
The figure is more than five per cent higher than the previous high in early 2008.
But rents are rising fastest in Cork - up a whopping 18 per cent in the last year.
An average rental property in the city now costs 1,051 euro a month.
Rents are almost 14 per cent higher in Galway; up 15.5 per cent in Limerick; and in Waterford city, rents have jumped by more than 13 per cent.
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