Average rent in Ireland 2026: the RTB Rent Index explained

The RTB's Rent Index for the first quarter of 2026 puts the average rent for a new tenancy at €1,839 a month, up 9.1% on the year. For an existing tenancy the figure is €1,513, up 4.2%. Those are the RTB's figures, published with the ESRI from registered tenancies, and they are the only official measure of what renters in Ireland pay.

The gap between the two figures, €326 a month, is the rent cap at work. A sitting tenant's rent rises by no more than 2% or CPI a year; a new tenancy is where market rent shows. This guide explains what the Index measures, what it does not, and how to use it. The figures page charts the series, and the county pages carry the RTB's figure for each county.

What the Rent Index measures

The Rent Index is built by the RTB with the Economic and Social Research Institute from the rents landlords register. Every private tenancy must be registered with the RTB, annually since 2022, and the rent is part of the registration. The Index is therefore a record of rents actually agreed, not rents asked on listing sites.

It reports two series. A new tenancy is one registered in the quarter, so its rent is the rent the market set that quarter. An existing tenancy is one renewed or re-registered, so its rent is the rent a sitting tenant pays after capped reviews. The two series are standardised for the mix of homes, so a quarter with more one-bedroom lets does not read as a fall.

The Index is quarterly and runs about three months behind. The first quarter of 2026 is the latest at 27 October 2026, and the RTB publishes the next with its Director's Quarterly Update. It reports nationally, by county, and for Dublin by area.

The figures, quarter by quarter

Over the year to the first quarter of 2026 the new tenancy figure rose €153 a month and the existing tenancy figure €61. The RTB gives the annual change as 9.1% for new tenancies and 4.2% for existing ones. The RTB also reported 241,072 registered private tenancies at the end of the second quarter of 2026.

Why sitting tenants pay less

An existing tenancy is under the cap. Since 1 March 2026 that cap is the lower of 2% and the annual change in the CPI, once in any 12 months, everywhere in the State. Before that, inside a Rent Pressure Zone, it was the lower of 2% and the HICP. A tenancy that began before 1 March 2026 is never reset to market while it lasts, so its rent drifts further from the market figure every year.

A new tenancy is different. Where the previous tenancy ended by the tenant's choice, the landlord may set the rent to market, and the new figure goes into the Index as a new tenancy rent. That is why the new tenancy series tracks the market and the existing series tracks the cap. When rent can be reset to market explains the resets, and rent increase rules from 1 March 2026 the cap.

The 4.2% rise in the existing series is more than the cap, which puzzles people. It is an average across tenancies. Some were reset lawfully at a new tenancy, some were outside the zones before 1 March 2026, and some were in new buildings under the CPI-only rule. Your own rent is capped at the figure for your dates, not at the average.

By county and by Dublin

The RTB publishes the Index by county, and for Dublin by area. Dublin runs well above the national figure, and most counties run below it. Each of our county pages carries the RTB's latest figure for that county with its quarter, and the Dublin page carries the Dublin figure. The county pages say in one line that every county is under the same national cap, because no county is a Rent Pressure Zone any more.

The county figure is a better guide to market rent for your area than the national one, and the Dublin area figures better again. None of them is the figure for your home.

What the average is not

It is not a cap. The most your rent can rise is the lower of 2% and CPI, once in 12 months, and nothing in the Index changes that. A landlord who writes that the rent is going up "to the average" is applying a figure the Act does not recognise.

It is not market rent for your home. Market rent in the Act is what a similar home in a similar area would fetch. A landlord shows it with three comparable tenancies from the Rent Register that began within the last three months. The average for the county is not a comparable. The rent review notice explains what the comparables must be.

It is not an asking rent. Listing sites report what landlords ask for the homes advertised that month, which are a small and expensive slice of the market. The Index reports what was agreed across every registered tenancy. The two measures move together but the asking figure is higher.

It is not the HAP limit. The Housing Assistance Payment limits are set by regulation and have not moved since 2017; the gap between them and the Index is the reason discretion exists. HAP in 2026 has the limits.

Using the figures

Use the county figure to test the comparables on a rent review notice. If the three comparables are far above the RTB's figure for your county, ask why, and bring the county figure to the RTB if you dispute the review.

Use the existing tenancy figure to see what the cap has done for you. A tenant who has stayed since 2019 is likely paying well under the new tenancy figure for the same home, and that gap is the cost of moving.

Use the rent increase checker for your own rent. It applies the cap for your dates, and the RTB's calculator gives the official figure. The Index tells you about the market; the checker tells you about your rent.

Where this leaves you

The RTB's Rent Index for the first quarter of 2026 gives €1,839 a month for a new tenancy and €1,513 for an existing one, and the gap is the cap at work. The Index is the official record of rents agreed, by county and for Dublin by area, and it is neither a cap nor the market rent for your home. Use the county figure to test a landlord's comparables, and use the checker for the most your own rent can rise. The figures page carries every series the RTB publishes, with its date.