Galway rents shoot up as numbers looking for homes rise
There was a 65% rise in the numbers waiting for social housing in County Galway in just twelve months, with even more families set to languish on the waiting list this year due to a rise in rents and a shortage of accommodation.
By the end of 2014 the social housing waiting list reached 3,115, up from 1,889 in 2013. Early this year, the director of services for housing Peter Gavican revealed that figure was 3.200 but likely to reach 4,000 due to the influx of people from the city who wanted to transfer to the Galway County Council list.
A new survey by the property website Daft.ie this week confirmed huge housing shortages have caused rents in Galway City to rise at a faster pace than in the capital. Galway City recorded an increase of 10.1% to an average monthly rent of €818, compared to the 8.5% jump in Dublin to €1,368. The average rent in Co Galway is €590.
The shortage of available rental property has worsened according to the latest survey – by the end of June there were 4,600 properties available to rent across the State, compared to 6,800 rental properties on the market a year earlier and significantly lower than the 23,000 properties available to rent six years ago.
Cork rents also soared by 10.4% in a year to €889, with Limerick rents also climbed steeply, by 8.9%, to €718, while Waterford posted an increase of 8.2% in the year to €629. Dublin rental inflation has slowed from a peak of 15%, but costs in the capital have now reached €1,368, up 8.5% in the year, according to Daft.ie.
Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Housing and Galway East TD Michael Kitt said the situation in Galway has been deteriorating steadily over the past two years and has now reached a crisis point. With the influx of students, things were only set to worsen further.
“There are more than 3,000 families on a waiting list for a home and despite warnings from housing organisations, local politicians and community groups, the Government has failed to do anything meaningful to address the problem,” he stated.
“More people are being forced onto the housing list as a result of high rents and a shortage of suitable homes. We are now in a situation where families, couples and individuals who would never have been traditionally at risk of homelessness are now finding themselves with nowhere to go.
“They cannot afford to pay the escalating prices in the private rental sector, or they are stuck in mortgage debt and the banks won’t deal with them,” he added.
For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune