AVERAGE RENTS across the country inched up 0.2 per cent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year – the first year-on-year increase in rents since early 2008. The increase was mainly due to a 6 per cent rise in the Cork rental market.

The latest quarterly rental report from property website Daft.ie found that while rents fell between June and September, rents in Cork and Dublin at the end of September were higher than the same period last year.

Cork, in particular, has seen a recovery in rental prices, with rents now 6.2 per cent higher than the same period last year. The average rent in Cork now stands at €883. Rents in the capital rose 0.8 per cent on a yearly basis, with the average rent in Dublin €1,050 at the end of September.

In Dublin’s commuter counties, rents are now 1 per cent lower than the same period last year.

Elsewhere in the country, rents are 2 to 3 per cent lower than last year. Ronan Lyons, economist at Daft.ie highlighted continuing differences between the urban and rural markets, with Cork and Dublin benefiting with the smallest level of oversupply and greatest level of demand.

“The outlook for 2012 looks like one of different trends in urban and rural markets the total stock of properties sitting on the rental market fell from 20,000 on July 1st to 16,000 on November 1st. This is mainly due to a fall in properties in Dublin, where the stock has fallen by almost 60 per cent in two years,” he said.

Any reform of rent allowance could have an impact on rents, especially in cheaper locations, he added.