Rents have dropped by the largest amount in ten years since the Covid-19 pandemic as the number of properties available to lease shot up dramatically.
Rents fell by 2.1% in April compared with March, according to the latest report from Daft.ie.
And Dublin saw the biggest fall, with rents down by 2.5% overall compared to just 2% on average in the other cities.
While this is the largest monthly rent decrease in over 11 years, increases last year meant rents were still 3.8% higher in the first three months of this year than they were in 2019.
In March of this year, the average monthly rent nationwide stood at €1,418.
The number of homes available to rent nationwide on May 1 was almost 40% higher than on the same date a year earlier, with almost 3,800 homes on the market, compared to 2,700 in May 2019.
Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft Report, warned that rents will only go back up if house-building slows down.
Mr Lyons said: “Before Covid-19 stopped the economy in its tracks, it seemed as though things were finally beginning to improve for Ireland’s rental sector.
“Given that the pandemic is unlikely to change any of the long-term fundamentals driving underlying housing need, there is a danger that while its immediate impact might be to lower rents, its longer term effect could be to worsen the shortage.”
