This article is from page 2 of the 2014-08-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
ENNIS is facing its worst ever rental property crisis – with prices set to rise by at least 10 per cent over the next 12 months.
The rental market in the county town is on the verge of grinding to a standstill – with just 29 properties available for rent in Ennis today, and only 12 three-bedroom, family style homes.
Rental property prices rose by 2.2 per cent in the the second quarter of this year – with the lions share of this rise being driven by Ennis.
A normally functioning rental market should see more than five per cent of the total property stock on the rent- al market at any time. Ennis requires a 1600 per cent increase on current stock levels to get close to that level.
“The last six months has seen a sharp decline on the number of properties available to rent in Ennis. We had a property last week which was rented after its first viewing for a increased rent, a lot of properties aren’t making it to the property websites they are going so fast,” said Mairead Carrig of Location Location in Ennis.
“Properties are being snapped up very quickly and there are very few new builds coming through. It would not be unrealistic if we saw price increases of 10 per cent of more in the year ahead. The powers that be need to make it easier for builders to get back to work in Ennis.”
The divisions between Clare’s two speed rental market also appears to be deepening with a large number of properties still available for rent outside of urban areas.
According to Ronan Lyons of Daft. ie, Ennis is just six months off a property shortage similar to those currently being experienced in Dublin and Cork.
Unlike Dublin and Cork however, there are few building projects planned for Ennis in the short and medium term.
“The figures for Ennis are really dramatic. A healthy market should have between 5 or 10 per cent of properties for sale at any one time but there is nothing close to that at the moment,” he said.
“Ennis is in the same boat as Cork and Dublin, there is just a lack of available accommodation, but it just on a small scale. Ultimately, this can only lead to large increases in rents.
“We have seen rent rises in four of the last five quarters in Clare and I could see rent rises significantly in the county over the next six months. It is very difficult to predict but I wouldn’t be surprising to see rents for the whole of the county rising by between 5 and 10 per cent in the year ahead.
“The places will see this the most is in Ennis and the parts of Clare which are close to Limerick and Galway. More and more now people want to be closer to jobs and services.”