Quarter of tenants in South Dublin, Fingal, Wicklow and Louth paying over half their income on rent

A quarter of renters in South Dublin, Fingal, Wicklow and Louth are paying more than 50 per cent of their disposable income on rent, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

As part of a report on the rental sector here, the CSO examined the “rent burden” on private sector tenants across the State’s 31 local authority areas.

It found that 26 per cent of tenants in South Dublin and 25 per cent of tenants in Fingal, Wicklow and Louth spent at least half their disposable income on rent in 2024.

Between a fifth and quarter of tenants in Dublin city, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Galway City, Carlow and Meath faced similar rental costs.

The report also found that a third (34 per cent) of all private tenants in South Dublin spent over 40 per cent of their disposable income on rent, followed by Fingal (33 per cent), Louth (33 per cent) and Wicklow (33 per cent).

In contrast, only 18 per cent of private tenants in Leitrim spent more than 40 per cent of their income on rent.

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The findings come as the recent rental report by property website Daft suggests that the average market rent for a two-bedroom apartment nationwide is currently €2,204 per month and €2,634 in Dublin.

According to Census 2022, there were more than 880,000 people living in households renting from private landlords and more than 75,000 in households renting from a voluntary body.

The CSO noted that the median (middle) age of private market renters was 34 in 2024.

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More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of private renters were aged between 25 and 44 while 21 per cent of private renters were aged between 45 and 65. Just 3 per cent were aged 65 and over.

In contras, the majority of landlords were aged between 50 and 64, while a third were aged over 65.

Employee income was the primary source of income for about almost three quarters (73 per cent) of private tenants.

Social welfare payments (excluding pensions) was the primary source of income for 16 per cent while for 5 per cent it was self-employed income.

Approximately 62 per cent of landlords had total gross income from all sources of less than €60,000 in 2024. At the top end of the income distribution, 4 per cent of landlords had a total gross income of more than €200,000.

The most common employment sector for individual landlords was financial and real estate activities (39 per cent) followed by construction (15 per cent).