The proportion of private rented accommodation in Dublin being provided by large or corporate landlords with more than 100 properties for rent has passed 20 per cent after a steady increase, new data shows.
The data also shows that, over the 12 months to the end of March, the number of registered private landlords, and the number of tenancies being provided by those landlords, has also been increasing.
The figures, published on Thursday by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), suggest a contrary picture to the view that private landlords are leaving the market and do not appear to be explained by a burgeoning build-to-rent sector.
The number of registered private landlords has gone from 97,702 at the end of June of last year, to 103,035 at the end of March of this year, according to the new RTB data. That is an increase of 6.5 per cent.
The new data show that the proportion of tenancies associated with landlords with more than 100 tenancies to let, including corporate landlords, increased steadily, with the Dublin area driving the phenomenon.
Nationally, the proportion of tenancies associated with landlords who own more than 100 tenancies went from 9.5 per cent at the end of Q2 2023, to 11.17 per cent at the end of Q1 2024.
However, in Dublin the proportion of tenancies associated with landlords with more than 100 tenancies went from 19.8 per cent at the beginning of the period, to 22.6 per cent at the end, with the proportion increasing each quarter. Outside Dublin, the proportion was just 2.56 per cent by March 2024.
The RTB, which maintains a register of private landlords, has updated its system for collecting data and has now released the first batch of figures under the new regime, covering the four quarters from quarter two (Q2) 2023.
The new data, according to the RTB, is not comparable to that formerly released and the drop in the number of registered private landlords when the first quarter of this year is compared to the equivalent figure for 2023, should ânot be attributed to landlords leaving the sectorâ.
âThe reduction should primarily be attributed to the improved verification processes and the introduction of the requirement for landlords to register tenancies annually, which has removed inactive tenancies and duplicates from the register,â said the RTB in a statement accompanying the release of data.
The new data show private tenancies registered with the RTB increasing every quarter since Q2 2023, going from 213,177 at the end of June last year, to 230,006 at the end of March this year, an increase over the period of 7.9 per cent.
Over the same time, the number of registered private landlords nationally increased each quarter, going from 96,702, to 98,662, to 101,051, to 103,035.
The Residential Tenancies Board said the new system for collecting data removed inactive and duplicated tenancies.
