World of Politics with Harry McGee

I bought my first house almost 30 years ago. I had not intended to buy but my mother was shocked that I was paying the sum of £50 per week for my room in a two-bedroom apartment. After she and my father came up to Dublin, I bought a new terraced house off the plans in Arbour Hill. It cost exactly two-and-a-half times my modest salary at the time.

At the time the cost seemed astronomical to me. Looking back, it seems comically small compared to what young people are faced with nowadays.

At the weekend, Daft published its latest survey of rent prices around the country.

It was shocking.

For the first time, the average asking price for rental properties had crept about €2,000, €2,053 to be exact.

Prices had increased 50 per cent since Covid only five years ago, and almost three times since 2011, when the asking price was an average of €765.

The breakdown of actual property types is interesting. At the most basic levels, one-bedroom flats range from just over €800 a month in the cheapest counties to just over €2,000 per month in Dublin 2.

Overall there are just over 2,000 properties listed on the site nationwide showing a real dearth of property. It’s no wonder the prices are rising so quickly.

And there’s no good news on the housing front either. The Department of Housing latest monthly update is the latest report to bear middling to bad news.

There were 5,938 new home completions in the first quarter of 2025. That was an increase of two per cent on the same period last year.

But it’s not good. Last year, there were 30,330 dwellings completed in Ireland. That was a 6.7 per cent decrease in 2023, and well short of the target of 40,000 new homes the Government had set for itself.

Indeed, right up to election day it was saying it was hopeful that the target would be met, despite several State agencies, including the ESRI and the Central Bank, expressing doubt. When it emerged in the New Year (long after the election) that the Coalition had missed the target by 10,000, it wasn’t only the Opposition who felt they had been sold a pig in a poke.

Pictured: Poisoned chalice…Housing Minister James Browne.