Have you heard about recent developments in the private rental sector involving landlords? The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) has revised its data collection methods and released new statistics that contradict widespread beliefs. Apparently, landlords are not deserting the rental market. Quite the opposite, the compiled information reveals that private rentals are on the rise.
Wondering when this trend started? The statistics point to June last year. The obligation on landlords to register their rentals with the RTB has been in place for a long time, but recent amendments have helped enhance the quality of the collected data. As a result, figures from the second quarter of the previous year cannot be directly compared with the past numbers.
The updated figures highlight that from last year until March 2024, there was a 6.5% growth in the number of registered landlords, from 96,702 to 103,035. Moreover, there was a 7.9% increase in tenancies over the same period, culminating in a total of 230,006.
You might also be curious about significant landlords? In the Dublin area, landlords who own over 100 rentals accounted for 22.55% of all leases at the end of this period, a jump from an initial 19.8%. Most of these are corporate entities, including built-to-let firms. However, they are far less common outside the Dublin region.
Notably, landlords possessing over 100 properties now control more than 22% of rental units in Dublin.
In the UK, small-scale private landlords continue to play a significant role in the market, data suggests. E.g., in March, one-property landlords accounted for 26.16% of all rentals, which is nearly the same figure as the previous year’s 26.49%. Landlords that managed two properties experienced a slight decrease from 13.03% to 12.55%.
Is the private rental sector expanding?
Possibly not, says Bank of Ireland’s chief economist, Conall Mac Coille. The current statistics make it difficult to interpret the true state of the rental market. For instance, 2022 census records indicate there were roughly 330,000 households living in privately rented accommodations – a figure that doesn’t align with the Residential Tenancies Board’s data. Another complicating factor is the recent change in registration rules, which makes comparisons to pre-Q2 last year’s data unreliable. The fluctuating landlord numbers could be just as influenced by this as by market conditions.
Is there a trend of private landlords exiting the sector?
Mac Coille believes there likely is. As for the noticeable presence of corporate landlords in Dublin, he remarks that it’s hardly unexpected.