Rent prices in Waterford rose by 9.9 per cent in last year

The cost of renting in Waterford rose by 9.9 per cent in the last year with the average price now being €1,735 per month.

That's according to the latest daft.ie Rental Price Report which was an analysis of recent trends in the Irish residential market.

The report was compiled by Ronan Lyons, who is Associate Professor in Economics at Trinity College, Dublin.

Significantly, Prof Lyons referenced a talk he gave recently to a group of Americans, on the Irish economy, in which he touched on how it became successful and on the challenges it faced, including housing.

When asked by one of the group if Irish policymakers had done anything specific to get more homes built, Prof Lyons said that in the 2010s, 'yes', but in the 2020s, 'no'.

"What I meant by this was that the 2016-2020 Government did seem to understand that its policy decisions were effectively levers that could generate appetite to build new homes," said Prof Lyons.

"This can be seen in the Build-to-Rent and Strategic Housing Development initiatives," he added. He said that combined with a favourable macroeconomic environment, the initiatives generated a pipeline of tens of thousands of new rental homes, albeit concentrated in the greater Dublin area due to viability challenges.

"The 2020-2024 Government, however, seemed not to understand this and reversed some of the pro-supply policies of its predecessor," he said.

"Together with the change in external conditions and a sharp tightening of Rent Pressure Zones, in effect making them one of the strictest rent control regimes in the world, this had a catastrophic effect on the supply pipeline," he added.

He went on to comment: "The irony is that the last government scrapped pro-supply policies just as they were beginning to show their effects."

According to the report the average rental price for a one-bed apartment in Waterford City is €1,044 while the price for a two-bed house is €1,267.

The cost of renting a three-bed house is €1,536 while a four-bed and five-bed home will cost a renter around €1,801 and €2,292 respectively.