Leitrim sees sharpest rent hike in Ireland since pandemic, report finds

In Leitrim, market rents were on average 10.7 percent higher in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.

The average listed rent now stands at €1,261, representing a 110 percent increase since the Covid-19 pandemic, the largest percentage rise in the country.

These figures come from the latest Daft.ie Rental Report for the second quarter of 2025. According to the report, renting a one-bedroom house in Leitrim costs €836 per month, a two-bedroom costs €978, a three-bedroom €1,132, a four-bedroom €1,252, and a five-bedroom €1,414.

Housing availability in Ireland continues to shrink. On August 1, just over 200 homes were available to rent in Connacht-Ulster which is down 25 percent on the same date last year and only about one-third of the 2015-2019 average.

Nationally, rents rose by an average of 1.6 percent in the second quarter of 2025, marking the eighteenth consecutive quarter of increases. 

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The average open-market rent nationwide between April and June was €2,055 per month, up from a low of €765 in 2011 and 51 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Rental pressures remain severe across Ireland’s cities. In Galway, rents rose 8.5 percent year-on-year, while in Cork they jumped 11.8 percent over the same period. 

On August 1, there were just under 2,300 homes available to rent nationwide, a 14 percent annual decline and nearly half the 2015-2019 average.

“The average open-market rent nationwide - at a little over €2,000 a month - is twice the rent seen at the Celtic Tiger peak and 50 percent higher than the level of rents that prevailed just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit,” said Ronan Lyons, Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin.

“As has consistently been the case over the past fifteen years, the substantial increases in rents are being driven by extreme scarcity of rental housing relative to underlying need.

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“Ireland’s lengthy planning process means that it will be a number of years before any increase in supply is meaningful enough to start addressing the large deficit of rental housing in the country,” Prof Lyons added.