Price of student accommodation in Castlebar drops by 7.3 per cent

Friday, 19 August 2011 08:47

GMIT Castlebar CampusTHE average rent in Mayo in the first quarter of 2011 was €575, a fall of €140 from the peak, according to the latest report published by the property website Daft.ie.

The survey revealed the average cost for a student attending the Castlebar Campus of GMIT to rent a double room is €241 per month.

The figure represents a drop of 7.3 per cent in the space of 12 months.

With Leaving Certificate results out this week, the latest figures make interesting reading for new and returning college students.

Having fallen for three years in a row between 2007 and 2010, rents are on average unchanged compared a year ago.

Compared with 2008, students renting a two-bedroom property could expect to save over the course of the academic year €1,500 in many parts of the country and up to €4,000 in some parts of Dublin.

However, not all areas have seen static rents and the cost of accommodation for students still varies significantly around the country.

Rents for double-rooms have fallen by two to three per cent in many parts of the country, but rose sharply in Limerick city and in Letterkenny.

The average cost for a double room in Dublin city centre is about twice the cost of renting in towns like Castlebar and Letterkenny.

Rents across the country were static in the second quarter of 2011. In July, the average asking rent for a house was €823 per month, the same level as twelve months ago.

Rents in Dublin and Galway have remained static over the past twelve months, while they rose strongly in Cork city by an average of 4.7 per cent.

In Waterford and Limerick cities, rents are about two per cent lower than last year. Elsewhere in the country, rents are down by 2.6 per cent on average.

Commenting on the report, Ronan Lyons, economist with Daft.ie said: “Recent years have shown a strong relationship between the number of properties available on the market and trends in rents.

“The total number of properties available to rent at any one time in Ireland's five major cities rose from 6,000 on May 1 to 8,000 at the start of August.

“The increase was pronounced in Dublin and unsurprisingly, having risen strongly for six months, Dublin rents stabilised in the last quarter.”