Rent Prices Sky Rocket Again, Leaving Students in the Lurch

A recent report from Daft.ie has shown that rent prices in the country have gone up by 9% compared to this time last year.

The average cost of renting has increased by €74 in the last 12 months, leaving the total at €934 per month, but what's surprising is most of the increases have come outside of Dublin, which has itself seen an inflation of 8.7%.

Waterford (8.2%), Limerick (8.9%), Galway (10.1%) and Cork (10.4%) have all seen strong rises in price of rent, and seeing as these are some of the nation's third level capitals, it's not looking too hopeful for students looking to move out during their college years.

Couple that with the fact that there are only 4,600 student properties available for students across the country, compared to 6,800 last year, it looks like students might have to start commuting instead.

Marcus O'Halloran of the UCD Student's Union said that new students moving from the country to Dublin are being hit hard as "they're generally not too familiar with the city market and if they're unsuccessful in finding somewhere to stay, they've a long and pricey commute ahead of them". O'Halloran also claimed that rent has gone up by as much as 25% in some places, and that students are increasingly losing out on accommodation to people in full-time work.

Via Independent.ie