Average rent in Ireland by county

The Daft.ie Rental Report uses asking rents on advertised listings, so it runs a quarter ahead of the RTB and tends to be higher, because only new lettings are advertised and landlords list at the top of the range. Its latest edition is Q2 2026. Both are worth checking; the RTB tells you the average, Daft tells you what you will actually see on your phone.

Headline figures for 2026

The RTB's national standardised average rent for a new tenancy was €1,839 a month in Q1 2026, up 9.1% in a year, while existing tenancies averaged €1,513 (up 4.2%). Dublin was €2,335 for new tenancies, the Greater Dublin Area counties (Meath, Kildare, Wicklow) €1,806 and the rest of the country €1,432. Ten counties recorded annual increases of at least 10%. Daft.ie's Q2 2026 report put a two-bed apartment at €2,204 nationally, with rents rising 1.4% in the quarter, a slowdown from a record 4.4% in Q1.

Average rent by county

Sources: RTB Rent Index Q1 2026 (standardised average rent in new tenancies, rounded to the nearest euro) and Daft.ie Rental Report Q1 2026 (average asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment). For Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford the Daft figures are split between the city and the rest of the county.

The five cities

Cities are dearer than the counties around them. The RTB Q1 2026 figures for new tenancies are Dublin City €2,301, Galway City €2,004, Limerick City €1,921 and Cork City €1,903. Within Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was highest at €2,629 and South Dublin lowest at €2,267. Daft.ie's Q2 2026 asking rents for a two-bed apartment were €2,634 in Dublin, €2,336 in Galway, €2,244 in Limerick and €2,168 in Cork, with annual growth of 6.5% in Dublin but 11% to 13% in the other three. Rent growth is now fastest outside the capital.

How to read the table when you are budgeting

Take the RTB new-tenancy figure as your realistic floor for a decent one- or two-bed, and the Daft figure as what a two-bed will be advertised at. If you are moving with a family and need a three-bed house, add roughly 15% to 25% to the Daft two-bed figure; in Q1 2026 a three-bed house averaged €3,162 in Dublin, €2,468 across the other four cities and €2,080 in the rest of Leinster. If you are single and happy to share, a double room averaged €806 nationwide and €1,002 in Dublin city centre.

Two further points. First, rent controls have applied to the whole country since June 2025, and since 1 March 2026 annual increases are capped nationwide at 2% or inflation, whichever is lower, so the premium you pay is at the start. Second, the counties nearest Dublin (Kildare, Wicklow, Meath, Louth) are only 15% to 25% cheaper than the capital, while the train or bus commute can be an hour or more. Counties such as Westmeath, Carlow and Laois, one stop further out, are where the savings become substantial.

★ Useful links

• RTB Rent Index (quarterly, all counties)
• Daft.ie Irish Rental Report
• Citizens Information: rent increase rules
• Citizens Information: renting a home
• CSO price statistics