While the rental market in Wexford is improving slightly in terms of available homes, it remains under significant pressure due to a lack of new rental supply, rising construction costs, and political focus on other housing sectors.
That’s according to the latest Daft.ie report.
Author of the report Ronan Lyons gave a summary of the key points about Wexford mentioned in the report:
- Rental Inflation: Rent increases in Wexford have slowed down compared to last year. A year ago, rents were rising by around 12% annually, but now they are increasing by 7%. While this is a decrease, a 7% increase still indicates an unstable market, largely due to a continuing shortage of rental supply.
- Availability of Rental Homes: The number of homes available to rent in Wexford has increased recently, from about 50 homes available last year to around 75 homes now. However, this is still far below pre-COVID levels, indicating that supply remains tight. As a result, rents are about 65–70% higher than they were before the pandemic.
- Impact of COVID and Market Tightness: Even before COVID, Wexford’s rental market was already tight, which has contributed to significant upward pressure on rents. The area has seen an increase in rents of approximately 65–70% since the pandemic.
- Challenges to Increasing Rental Supply: There is a significant labor shortage in Wexford and rising material costs, both of which complicate efforts to increase the housing supply. While political parties agree on the need to boost supply for social and owner-occupied housing, there is little focus on increasing rental housing supply, which remains a critical issue for about 15% of the population who rely on renting.
- Viability of New Rental Housing: Building new rental homes in areas like Wexford can be financially unfeasible due to high construction costs (e.g., €450,000–€500,000 for a two-bedroom apartment). To make it financially viable, longer-term financing may be necessary to spread out the costs, allowing for more affordable rents.
- Government Policy: The current government has focused more on policies for social and owner-occupied housing, but there has been less attention given to increasing rental housing. Measures taken so far, like rent control and efforts to keep current landlords in the market, may prevent further negative impacts but don’t directly add to rental stock.
- Current Rental Prices: The average rent in Wexford is currently €1,450 per month, up 7% year on year. This is a significant increase from pre-COVID rents, which were around €860 per month on average. Over the past four to five years, rental prices have increased by almost 70%.
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