In a report published by Daft.ie, it has been revealed that rent is now higher than it has ever been, surpassing rent prices during the economic boom in the 1990s and early 2000s.
This has prompted concern for students as they may struggle to find a house which they can feasibly afford. One student shared her accommodation nightmare with Donegal Daily in a bid to raise awareness for the housing crisis gripping students.
Thousands of students from Donegal travel across Ireland to attend third-level institutions, with Dublin and Galway being the most popular destination.
Nationally, over 52,000 students got offered CAO places on Monday, 1,985 of which are from Donegal.
Rent has sky-rocketed as demand exceeds supply, with Dublin’s rates are now 5.2% higher than the last peak in early 2008, just before the economic downturn. A single bedroom in Dublin can set you back €600 on average, a 15.7% hike since this time last year.
Rent has reached a record high, as the availability of housing hits an all time low on property website Daft.ie
Shockingly, in some instances a mortgage is cheaper than rent, as you can mortgage a house in Waterford for 32% cheaper than rental costs.
Speaking to Donegal Daily, a 22 year old U.C.D. student from the Rosses who is going into her last year has highlighted several frustrations felt by students while searching for accommodation. She would rather remain anonymous as her landlord has not returned her deposit and does not want to jeopardize the return of her money.
She said; “I was paying €510 for a very small shared room in a mouldy house in Donnybrook. When we first moved in, the house was disgusting and we had to clean it. There were a lot of things that we physically could not clean though, such as the blinds in my room which were just destroyed with black mould”.
“The handles were falling off the doors and there was a lot of exposed wiring. The plug sockets kept tripping the whole house. If you wanted to plug anything in you had to put it half-in and half-out.”
“The neighbours houses looked well-kept, whereas ours looked as run-down on the outside as it was on the inside”.
“My landlord is putting the rent up again this year. The rent is just too expensive. Landlords are just getting too greedy now. They know students don’t have a lot of choice, and they’re taking advantage of that”.
“The house was at least two decades old and it seems like the landlord hasn’t done anything with it since”.
“There’s just nowhere to go and the rent is crazy”.
“It’s just by pure luck that I got a house this year that I can just about afford. All the places I was looking at on the property websites were at least €700 a month for a room. A friend of a friend moved out of their house so it’s just so lucky that I got in on his place.”
Commenting on the Daft.ie report, Ronan Lyons, economist at TCD and author of the Daft Report, said: “Ahead of a new academic year, the latest figures highlight the severe shortage of accommodation for students.”
“While a large number of purpose-built student apartments are either being built or are planned, these will take time to come on stream and will only cater for those on higher incomes. The majority of students will face tough choices about where to study and where to live.”
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