It's cheaper to buy than to rent in Mullingar

Rents are at such a high in Westmeath that in many cases, it now costs far more to rent than to buy, the latest figures from the property website daft.ie, have revealed.

In the last three months alone, rental prices in Westmeath have risen by 3.9 per cent and over the course of the last year, rents in Westmeath have rocketed by a whopping 13.2 per cent – putting it in the top tier for rent rises over the period.
This week, there are just eight properties to rent in all of Mullingar – and the rents sought are all above the average figures quoted for the overall county.
The figures show a 38 per cent increase from when rental levels reached the trough, according to Daft.
The average rent in Westmeath is now €727.
The site compares the cost of rent against the cost of buying, based on a 3.75per cent variable mortgage over a thirty year term.
It finds that in Westmeath, the mortgage on a one-bed apartment would be €248, while the rent is now €508.
For a two-bed house, the rent is now €591. To buy would mean a monthly mortgage payment of €331.
Further up the ladder, the same applies: someone buying a 3-bed house at today's average cost in Westmeath, would have a monthly mortgage of around €475. Even if the mortgage lending rate were to increase by two percentage points, the mortgage would come in at €599.
By contrast, someone hoping to rent could anticipate a payment of €713.
It's only at the stage of four-bed houses that it becomes cheaper to rent than to buy, with Daft.ie pitching the cost of the mortgage on a four-bed at €902, and the rent at €776. For a five-bed, the typical rent would be €872 – less than the buying cost of €980 per month.
The Westmeath figures are reflective of the national picture. Nationwide, average rents rose almost 4 per cent in the third quarter, and the annual rate of rental inflation in Ireland is now 11.7 per cent, the highest recorded by Daft.ie since its series start in 2002.
Trinity economist, Ronan Lyons, author of the report said that these latest figures make “grim reading” for most, including, he says, “those renting and those in charge of Ireland's housing system”.
He said the figures are haivng “a disastrous effect on social co hesion as welll as on Irish competitiveness”.
Rents in some parts of Dublin are now 10 per cent higher than their peak, during the Celtic Tiger days.
Meanwhile, there were fewer than 3,700 homes to rent nationwide on October 1 – 12 per cent fewer than on the same date a year previously