Barney Kiernan has been working in real estate in Castlebar for 30 years but has said that Mayo’s current rental market was “bizarre and manic”.
Prices have rocketed by almost 25 per cent for Mayo renters, making it the highest year-on-year increase in the country and an average of €1,222.
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment was recorded at €799, an increase of 17.5 per cent, while three-bed houses recorded a 23.7 per cent rise (€1,110), according to the most recent figures from Daft.ie.
Mr Kiernan, property director of Castlebar Properties, said that although the situation is dire in Mayo, it is a “microcosm of the market in the whole country”.
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“I’ve been working 30 years in this business, and you’d see the occasional landlord sell off a property and a natural replacement would spring up, allowing new renters to come into the market. But you don’t see that any more. I have never seen the rental market as dysfunctional as it is now to be honest,” he said.
Mr Kiernan said he believed there were three keys reasons which he attributes for Mayo’s rental crisis, stating that the combination of Celtic Tiger investors, rising house prices and Rent-to-buy (RTB) regulations are a “perfect storm” for a rental market meltdown.
I’ve spoken to doctors who came as students to Castlebar maybe five or six years ago who were paying €180 for a room per month, but now I’ve moved up from Galway and I’m paying €400 a month
For Tiernan Surlis, final year medical student in NUIG, on placement in Mayo University Hospital, he said that housing for students is “a bit of a lottery”.
“I’m a final year medical student in NUIG and I’ve been on placement in MUH for the last five or six months. I moved up in January and the way the housing works for us students is that its unofficially passed down year to year from departing student to arriving student. So getting accommodation is kind of based off you knowing someone who is already up there who can pass you down a house,” he said.
It’s never going to catch the headlines because it’s not the €1,200 a month that you’d see in Dublin
“I’ve spoken to doctors who came as students to Castlebar maybe five or six years ago who were paying €180 for a room per month, but now I’ve moved up from Galway and I’m paying €400 a month.
“I think as students in Ireland, you’re kind of conditioned to see €400 a month and just immediately think it’s a great deal. But if you start to contextualise the increases in prices compared to what it used to be in places like Castlebar, or Athlone or Sligo, it’s been an absolutely dramatic increase. But it’s never going to catch the headlines because it’s not the €1,200 a month that you’d see in Dublin.
“But the fact of the matter is, is that the people in places like this aren’t living the Dublin life, and they aren’t earning the Dublin money. To have over a 200 per cent increase in prices over the course of just a few years is an enormous thing for the people who live here and for students coming up here too to deal with.”
Thomas Walsh, a renter on the outskirts of Castlebar said people everywhere in the county are experiencing difficulties.
“I live in Castlebar but I work in Westport, and people are struggling big time in both towns with trying to find somewhere affordable. Unless you are willing to share a house and even rooms, it is just not an option to rent.”
“Thankfully we got very lucky, I’ve been living in my current house for the last three years with my partner. When we initially started looking for a house there were loads of properties available, you essentially had your pick, which certainly isn’t the case any more,” he said.
“If for any reason we had to leave our current house, I don’t think we would be able to find anywhere to rent, it would be a case of both of us moving back home. A lot of my friends and family are experiencing this now,” he said.
According to Daft.ie, there are 954 properties available to buy at present in Mayo, over 30 times the amount of rental properties available (31). House prices in the county rose by 9.6 per cent between Q1 of 2022 and Q1 of 2023.
So many people have moved West for a more relaxed quality of life in that they are avoiding the more populated centres and still have access to top quality services and a better quality of life
Cyril Burke from DNG Estate Agents Castlebar said there is such a tight supply of properties that when a property becomes available there is a “huge demand” as employment opportunities have improved.
“One of the big causes of this lack of supply is that so many small landlords have exited the market as the taxes are too high on the rental income so it’s not worth their while staying in the market.
“The Government really need to do something in the budget to address this issue before we lose any remaining small landlords.
“Rental values have been steadily increasing over a long number of years and really have come from a very low base back in 2012/2014. Employment opportunities in the West have really increased the numbers of people looking to rent here along with the opportunity for people to work from home.
“So many people have moved West for a more relaxed quality of life in that they are avoiding the more populated centres and still have access to top quality services and a better quality of life. In any given day we have enquiries for renters from all corners of the world be it nurses from the Philippines taking up work in MUH to IT employees looking to work from an apartment for companies based anywhere in Ireland which they may be required to commute to once a month.
“All of these opportunities have caused a spike in rental values as some of these people are on excellent incomes and are happy to pay for the quality of accommodation and lifestyle this location has to offer.”