17 November 2021
Go to release: The Rental Sector in Ireland 2021
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (17 November 2021) published ‘The Rental Sector in Ireland 2021’. This report was developed in collaboration with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) and is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Publication. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this experimental analysis. The aim of this Frontier Series is to provide new insights into the rental sector in Ireland and in particular rental properties, landlords and tenants.
Commenting on the release, Justin Anderson, Statistician, said: “The Rental Sector in Ireland 2021 provides analysis on the properties, landlords and tenants that make up the rental sector in Ireland. The publication examines, amongst other topics, age and income of landlords, rent burden of tenants and characteristics of rental properties across time and at different geographic breakdowns.
Within today’s publication, some of the analysis highlights the following;
Properties in the rental sector are most likely to have a BER rating of C, accounting for approximately 40% of properties. The proportion with an A rating is small although this has been increasing every year from 1.1% in 2017 to 4.8% in 2021. Looking at different tenure types and populations, the proportion of properties with A or B BER ratings is lowest for those in receipt of Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme or Rent Supplement.
The total floor area of rental properties is lowest in Dublin and particularly its inner city. This is highest in Roscommon, Leitrim and Galway County. The size of rental properties as a percentage of that for all properties is lowest outside of Dublin.
Examining landlords of rental properties, we can see that the age-profile of landlords has been increasing with only 24.2% of landlords with tenancies in 2021 under 45 compared with 35.1% in 2017.
More than half (50.5%) of landlords in 2019 had a rental income of less than €10,000 with about three in ten more receiving between €10,000 and €20,000 in rental income. Just over 1% received more than €100,000 in rental income.
The most common sector of employment for landlords is Human Health & Social Work Activities where 12.3% of landlords are employed. This is a similar percentage as the full working population. Financial & Real Estate accounted for 10.9% of landlords in employment, more than double the percentage of 4.9% for all those in employment. Almost a third (33.0%) of landlords with 20 or more tenancies work in the Financial & Real Estate Sector.
Rent as proportion of total disposable income is highest for tenants living in and around Dublin. More than a third of tenants (36.1%) living in Dublin City spend more than 35% of their disposable income on rent in 2019.
Almost three-quarters (71%) of tenants have employee income as their primary source of income. Social Welfare (excluding pensions) is the next highest primary income source for tenants (20.6%).”
The results presented in this publication are based on a number of data sources:
The linkage and analysis was undertaken by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for statistical purposes in line with the Statistics Act, 1993 and the CSO Data Protocol.
All data sources are pseudonymised prior to linking. The Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) is a unique number that enables individuals to access social welfare benefits, personal taxation and other public services in Ireland. The CSO removes the PPSN and replaces it with a Protected Identifier Key (PIK). The PIK is an encrypted and randomised number used by the CSO to enable linking of records across data sources and over time, while at the same time preserving privacy.
Given this publication has been released under the CSO’s Frontier output series, users are urged to read the Background and Methodology section to understand how the publication was complied, definitions used, along with any potential limitations in the analysis so figures are not misinterpreted.
Justin Anderson (+353) 1 498 4316
or
Kieran Culhane (+353) 87 183 8704
or email sscu@cso.ie
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