Rents rise by 1% in January

[Scorpio]

After falling 15% in 2009, rents rose by 1% in January, the first month-on-month increase in two year. Thus spake Morning Ireland this morning; see more over on daft website, with a commentary by Michael Taft from Notes on the Front/UNITE:
Investment Key to Rental Sector Revival

Also being discussed by thepropertypin (one of the discussants being the daft economist):
Daft/Indo: Jan 2010 rents up 1% nationwide • thepropertypin.com
And on the daft economist's blog:
Stop the press – rents go up in January! | Ronan Lyons
At that last link, Lyons discusses whether the January increase is seasonal or structural, deciding on the latter.

The number of properties available to rent has fallen by up to a half in Dublin and Galway city centres in the last six months, apparently!

[Digout]

While unemployment continues to rise and salaries are cut? Very odd.

[seanmacc]

After falling 15% in 2009, rents rose by 1% in January, the first month-on-month increase in two year. Thus spake Morning Ireland this morning; see more over on daft website, with a commentary by Michael Taft from Notes on the Front/UNITE:
Investment Key to Rental Sector Revival

Also being discussed by thepropertypin (one of the discussants being the daft economist):
Daft/Indo: Jan 2010 rents up 1% nationwide • thepropertypin.com
And on the daft economist's blog:
Stop the press – rents go up in January! | Ronan Lyons
At that last link, Lyons discusses whether the January increase is seasonal or structural, deciding on the latter.

The number of properties available to rent has fallen by up to a half in Dublin and Galway city centres in the last six months, apparently!

I would imagine it's a case of landlords upping rent to cover the cost of thier rising mortgage repayments. i.e Permanent TSB rises ect.
Also the rising cost of insurance would be another factor.

[Digout]

I would imagine it's a case of landlords upping rent to cover the cost of thier rising mortgage repayments. i.e Permanent TSB rises ect.
Also the rising cost of insurance would be another factor.

From what I've been hearing rents are still falling.

[Scorpio]

Yeah, interesting to see whether this continues in the months ahead or turns out to be just a one-off blip due to seasonal factors.

[johnfás]

It doesn't really tell us anything in isolation. A single low digit figure does not make a trend, we will have to wait longer to see.

[Bi ciuin]

I wouldnt be surprised if this is the start of a trend.

The idea that we are in defaltion has long been a false truth, and yes whilst some things are cheaper other things are not.

As Landlords themselves find times getting tougher they will in panic raise rents to try and claw back some more cash to keep their lifestyles as normal.

The recent cuts from Welfare and the public service came from the governments claim that deflation had made the cost of living 5% cheaper despite many people claiming that their cost of living hadnt dropped whatsoever.

If costs now start to rise including rents will the state increase welfare and public service wages to meed the new costs?

I think not, but it does put the government in a very bad position with people using their logic (The Government) to calculate what they need to live on.

[johnfás]

As Landlords themselves find times getting tougher they will in panic raise rents to try and claw back some more cash to keep their lifestyles as normal.

Not just keep their lifestyles normal. The world is far more complex now than the time of the writers to which many posters here subscribe. The idea of landlords being inherently wealthy is no longer necessarily accurate. There are plenty of landlords with less cash than their tenants in this market. Raising rents in alot of cases is an issue of survival as much as anything.

[Sync]

Exactly, it's also the case that although we're currently in deflation with very low interest rates, that's more than likely going to change in the next 18 months. Landlords need to ensure they have enough squirrelled away in the event of mortgage increases.

[Digout]

This number is the asking price for rents?