Affordability in the property market remains a huge issue for those renting or living at home with their parents. Whilst more than 90% want to purchase their own home, a survey conducted in July of over 800 adults found that 43% of people renting or living with parents could not afford to.
When it comes to buying their own home, the outlook for this cohort is not particularly positive, with 80% expecting house prices to rise over the next 12 months.
The 123.ie House &Home Survey was carried out amongst landlords, homeowners and renters / living with parents and covered a range of issues including rental properties, mortgages, renovations and Rent Pressure Zones.
Recent reports from both Daft.ie and the Residential Tenancies Board show that rents continue to trend upwards. This survey identified a similar trend, but found that the majority of people living in rented accommodation (60%) saw their rent rise by less than 4% in the past year.
Whilst most tenants incurred relatively modest rent increases, a quarter of tenants reported a rise of more than 10% in the past twelve months. 14% said that their rent had gone up by more than 15%.
The good news for landlords is that a high proportion of people in rental properties plan to stay where they are, with almost one in three saying they are not planning to move from their current rental property quite simply because they like it.
LANDLORDS, RENT AND NEGATIVE EQUITY
The survey includes the views of landlords, the majority (78%) of whom own between one and three houses. 27% own up to three apartments and fewer than 6% reported ownership of more than four rental properties.
70% of landlords responding to the survey said that they had not put up the rent on their properties in the past twelve months.
Landlords however are less sure about the success of Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ). 40% of landlords had all of their properties in a Rent Pressure Zone.
In the main, the majority of landlords did not feel that the introduction of RPZs had a positive affect on the housing crisis (72%). Not addressing the lack of supply in the market was the reason most cited for its lack of positive impact.
