Irish Property Market chat II - *read mod note post #1 before posting*

No but caps will only apply from March for 6 years, after which a landlord doesn't have to apply the 2% rule

Yeah but more likely the 6 year limit was chosen because the current govt will be gone by then and won't have to deal with any fallout. I'd say the only way the rule would be extended is if we get a proper govt

Afaik, sitting tenants who rollover into a further 6 year term will continue with the max 2% rent cap so I don’t see how there will be any doubling of the rent. Also, if a new tenant moves into a property after the previous tenant left voluntarily, a landlord can charge market rate but that will be based on comparisons from the new register, not from daft or out of the landlords head. The register will have all rents, RPZ, capped, discounted AHB, cost rentals etc and the rate will refer to size, bedrooms, location, BER etc.

Any rent, whether it’s a first time rent or a renewal, is to be submitted to the RTB and any landlord who breaks the rules could get a criminal charge along with huge fines. It sounds very draconian to criminalise a landlord who makes an error on paperwork but I’m sure there’s many will be delighted to see that. To me that’s just another thing that scares landlords out of the market.

Agree that housing is a need but landlords or developers are not obliged to supply housing, they can enter and exit that market the same as any business investor can participate in other sectors. If citizens are unable to buy or rent due to lack of availability, it falls on the state to create conditions where investors are willing to take a risk to meet the demand.

2% a year is not the ROI but the increase in ROI.

And you do not pay marginal rate on rental income if you hold the property in a fund or business structure,so you can compound your rental gains almost tax free.

You cannot achieve that with deposit savings accounts.

My understanding was that after 6 years the rent can be reset to market rent for sitting tenants. If a tenant voluntarily leaves within the 6 year timeframe the market rent can be reset for the new tenant.

You're confusing rental increases with deposit interest. The interest is accrued on your deposit. The money you spend buying the home is more akin to your initial investment.

Say for example I bought this apartment for €350k (I'm aware that asking is 295 but let's assume it goes up by 55k)

https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/property-apartment-131-the-matthew-the-strand-ennis-road-co-limerick/6485565

and I rent it out for €2k a month, below is a bigger apartment in the same complex for €2.5k/month so I'd be fairly confident of getting €2k

https://www.daft.ie/for-rent/apartment-the-strand-apartments-ocallaghan-strand-limerick-city-centre/6493636

After one year the 350k investment has netted 24k. But also the latest residential property price index from the CSO shows that property prices have increased by 7.9% outside of Dublin, meaning your 350k investment after one year has given you €24k in rent and €27.65k in property price inflation.

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-rppi/residentialpropertypriceindexnovember2025/

This gives a total return, should the landlord sell up after 1 year of €51.65k on a €350k investment or the equivalent of 14.75%.

Let's say 50% of it goes on tax (likely a lot less but for example)

Your return on the investment is still way in excess of 7%. Before you raise your rent by another €480 a year

Do you know of any bank offering these returns?

My home has been making more than me on median(ish) income over the past 3 years

Irish deposit accounts are loss making in real terms. Homes with no rental return have a far better ROI, comparing deposit accounts interest rates to property is just plain daft

It's not daft. When looking at ROI you have to look at the Risk Free rate. Deposit accounts are the closest the average person gets to that. In real terms deposit accounts do lose money. But all investments have the potential to lose money.

When looking at any investment you need to look at potential return and RISK. Generally the higher risk an investment the higher return that people demand.

Saying that getting 2% extra every year is a good investment is meaningless without looking at risk.

A landlord can continue to rent and face the risk of getting 0 income and a negative return if they get a bad tenant. Or sell and put the money on deposit. I could have picked other investment options(with higher returns) but deposit accounts are less risky. My point is saying 2% is great doesn't make sense when a significant amount of landlords are selling. They have other investment options starting with deposit accounts.

But you are completely ignoring risk. Of course deposit accounts are not a good investment but they represent the risk free rate.

If a tenant doesn't pay and takes 2 years to get out you have a negative ROI for that period. You don't have that issue with deposit accounts. For small landlords this risk is made worse by having only a few properties.

Any half decent ROI calculation that is done will factor in the 2%. So the expected ROI is the expected ROI not ROI plus 2%. The ROI for any new tenancies also has to allow for they cannot sell with vacant possession (unless tenants leave of their own accord) and with that the negative hit to the ROI.

Private property is a less attractive investment option. We can see that with landlords selling. Depending on the nature of a tenancy a deposit account can provide a better return than purely renting. Yes long term you can sell but an investor needs to be able to afford the long term is months and potentially years of no income.

ROI varies for every property and the investment time horizon and should be compared to the risk free rate ie deposit accounts.

Private property is a less attractive investment option. We can see that with landlords selling

But we aren't actually seeing this - yes landlords are selling, but many more are buying and entering the market. Total rental supply is increasing not shrinking, so the investment opportunity clearly is still attractive

To be fair to you there's a good few new rules and getting the head around them isn't easy. Below is an explainer from the citizens information website that might help. Basically the tenancy is ended after 6 years and the rent can be re-set to market rates with the tenant still in situ. Re-setting is different to increasing in this way

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/renting-a-home/changes-to-the-rules-for-renting-from-march-2026/

From 1 March 2026, if a new tenancy is being created a landlord will be able to re-set the rent to market value, if the previous rent was below market value and:

• The tenant leaves the tenancy voluntarily
• The tenant breaks their obligations
• The home no longer meets the tenant's needs, for example, because it is too small
• The 6-year tenancy of minimum duration ends for a private rented tenancy
• 3-years has passed for tenancies in student-specific accommodation

Most 2 bed apartments in limerick city go for 2k-2.3k The complex I listed has a number of benefits over others, hence the higher rent, the higher price and the higher return on investment. The average rent difference between a 1 and 2 bed apartment in Limerick is about €300 so I was being very conservative by knocking €500 off the price of a 2 bed to come to the one bed price

I'm not going to get into too much detail on the intricacies of the housing crisis here, I made a post on this thread a couple of years ago speaking about generating supply to make some sort of dent and I don't fancy repeating myself.

I will say that I am against the notion that this is an issue that'll be resolved if the state stops interfering in the market. This isn't an Irish issue at all, far from it, but the reality is that too many are being left behind by the price increases not matching wages for decades.

Let's be real, we do need some sort of state involvement. You can give me exceptions and convoluted ways to get around this, but there are hundreds of thousands of dedicated workers making very ordinary salaries in valuable jobs who will never be able to rent alone or purchase a modest property near their employer.

With this in mind, I don't have an issue with some state involvement, private developers will never be able to price their offerings to suit the admin support worker in central Dublin making 37k a year. How exactly we go about this is a different question, aside from my hope that we see the minimum wage climbing. I'd hope that with radical increases in supply and council lists focusing on employment needs, those making below the median salary will see some sort of future. (yes I am the optimist)

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