Rent prices have increased by 36% in the 5 years since October 2021 and are at their highest level since the series began in November 1996.
Mortgage Interest costs are at their highest level since October 2008 and have increased by 98.3% since October 2021.
In the 12 months to October 2026, Rents have risen by 7% and Mortgage Interest costs were up by 10.8%.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 4.3% in the 12 months to October 2026.
Rents contributed 0.44 percentage points towards the overall inflation rate in October 2026 while Mortgage Interest contributed 0.32 percentage points.
In the last 5 years, Household Maintenance Services have gone up by 19.3%.
Prices for Household Maintenance Materials rose by 14.1% since October 2021.
Figure 1 shows the development of prices for Rents and Mortgage Interest since January 2006. These indices show the respective price level compared with the base period December 2023 = 100 and are used to show price trends over time.
Figure 1 shows that the price of rental payments have continued to rise consistently since September 2012. While prices decreased slightly during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, they have continued to increase month-on-month since July 2021 and have more than doubled (+118%) in the 20 years since October 2006.
Figure 2 shows the annual percentage change of Total Rental Payments along with the sub-indices for Private Rents and Local Authority Rents. Overall, Rent prices increased by 7.0% in the 12 months to October 2026. This was the largest annual increase since September 2023 when prices also increased by 7.0% in the year.
In October 2026, Private Rents were up by 5.5% while Local Authority Rents increased by 12.7%. This is the largest annual increase the price of local authority rents in over 10 years while private rents increased by the highest rate since January 2024 (6.0%).
Figure 1 shows the development of mortgage interest costs since January 2006. Mortgage interest costs peaked in October 2008 before dropping to almost half the price level by July 2009. In October 2026, mortgage interest was at its highest level since October 2008.
Figure 3 shows that since January 2016, the annual percentage increase in mortgage interest costs peaked in August 2023 (51.2%). This was the highest observed annual increase in Mortgage Interest since March 2001 (51.7%). The annual percentage change in October 2026 was 10.8% which was the largest annual increase in Mortgage Interest costs since September 2024 (11.3%). This increase has been driven by increased interest rates and increasing residential property prices.
Figure 1 shows that the cost of materials and services for household maintenance was at its highest level in October 2026. Prices decreased during the period of 2008 to 2013 but have been increasing since December 2013.
October 2026 saw the highest percentage annual change in the cost of household maintenance (3.0%) since November 2023 (4.3%). Figure 4 shows the breakdown of Materials and Services for Household Maintenance. The annual change in Materials for Household Maintenance was highest in May 2022 (11.9%) while Services for Household Maintenance peaked in April 2023 (8.6%).
Figure 5 details the annual percentage point (pp) contributions of Rents and Mortgage Interest. This is each items impact on the overall rate of inflation.
Rental costs contributed 0.44pp towards the overall inflation rate of 4.3% in October 2026. This was the highest contribution of rents to overall inflation since February 2024 (0.44pp).
Mortgage Interest contributed 0.32pp. This is the highest contribution of Mortgage Interest to overall inflation since November 2025 (0.77pp). The highest Mortgage Interest contribution to inflation since 2021 was in August 2023 (1.25pp). This was primarily driven by increasing interest rates in 2023 in response to the high inflation rates in 2022 and early 2023.
In the CPI, the Rental Payments index is a combination of Private Rents and Local Authority Rents.
Private rents are collected every month centrally in the CSO offices. The CSO survey real estate agents around the country and ask for the average rental price of a number of different property types in their area. The rental price per property is compared to the price in the previous month and a relative price change for the real estate agent is calculated. The estate agents are grouped by county and an average price change is calculated for each county. To calculate the national Private Rent index, each county’s price change is weighted by the county population and the overall average price change in Ireland is calculated using these population weighting factors.
Local Authority Rents are collected on a quarterly basis. The CSO surveys each local authority in Ireland and requests the number of properties rented by the local authority and the total value of rental payments collected by the local authority. The CSO uses this information to calculate an average rent for each local authority and this is compared to the previous month’s average rent to create a relative price change. The final overall percentage change is calculated by using the value of rental payments for each local authority as weighting factor for the overall Local Authority Rental sub-index.
The Mortgage Interest sub-index is a measure of the cost of mortgage interest payments by the average household in Ireland. For a particular mortgage, the interest payment is dependent on the rate of interest and on the amount of mortgage debt still outstanding. The debt outstanding is linked to the price of the house when the mortgage was taken out and the remaining term of the mortgage.
The mortgage debt outstanding on a standard set of mortgages is dependent on the weighted average of estimated house price levels using the monthly Residential Property Price Index (RPPI), where the weights decline with the age of the mortgage reflecting the reduction in the interest payable over time, and the average interest rate, based on data collected from four different lending institutions in Ireland.
The CSO collects information on average interest rates for different mortgage products and the average interest weights are weighted by the popularity of each product to get an average interest by lender. Each lending institution's market share is used as a weighting factor to calculate an overall average interest rate each month.
Household Maintenance is an aggregate of Materials for Household Maintenance and Services for Household Maintenance.
Materials for Household Maintenance contains items such as DIY materials such as paint and varnish as well as larger materials such as building materials and flooring. These prices are collected by CSO price collectors in the field and online by CSO staff in the office.
Service prices for Household Maintenance is a combination of different trade prices such as plumbers and electricians, as well as security services. These prices are collected centrally in the CSO office using a survey of service providers and trades people.
A full list of the items included in each category can be found in the CPI basket of goods and services.
To calculate the percentage change in the CPI between two periods of time
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (11 November 2026) published a Focus on Rent and Mortgage Interest Costs October 2026. This is the third release in the Insight Series and focuses on price developments in rents, mortgage interest payments, and household maintenance costs.
Commenting on the release, Anthony Dawson, Statistician in the Prices Division, said: “This CSO Insight Series provides greater analysis and context on key financial topics through the lens of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Today’s release focuses on price developments in Rents, Mortgage Interest and Household Maintenance in Ireland and provides a more detailed look at data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October 2026, which has also been published today. This release does not cover household energy costs. The CSO will publish Focus on Household Energy Costs along with the November CPI release which is scheduled for publication on Thursday 10 December.
Highlights
In the last 5 years, Rent prices have increased by 36% while Mortgage Interest costs have increased by 98.3%. When comparing October 2026 with October 2025, Rents were up by 7% and Mortgage Interest rose by 10.8%.
Local Authority rents have risen by 12.7% since October 2025 while Private Rents have increased by 5.5% over the last year.
When we look at price indices, which show price trends over time, in October 2026, Mortgage Interest costs were at their highest level since October 2008. This was due to a number of interest rate rises and the increasing value of houses over this time period. Rental price levels as measured by the CPI are at their highest level since the CSO began publishing detailed sub-indices in November 1996 and have increased every month since July 2021.
Overall, the CPI increased by 4.3% in the 12 months to October 2026. In terms of percentage point (pp) contributions, Rents contributed 0.44pp towards the overall inflation rate in October 2026 while Mortgage Interest contributed 0.32pp.
Household maintenance, which includes materials and services for household repair and maintenance, has also risen. The price of Household Maintenance Services have increased by 2.1% in the 12 months to October 2026 and by 19.3% in the last 5 years. The price of Materials for Household Maintenance have gone up by 4.9% since October 2025 and by 14.1% in the last 5 years.”