Rents are going to go up in the next five years, as so-called 'accidental' landlords plan to leave the market.
That's according to Irish Times consumer affairs correspondent, Conor Pope.
He was responding to new figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), which show one-fifth of renters in Dublin are spending more than half their income on rent.
But Conor says the situation could be about to get worse.
"There will be moves by the small landlords, and by small landlords I mean the almost accidental landlords - who might have bought property during the boom years, and then moved into another house and started renting out the property they bought.
"But there's a significant number of the small landlords [who] plan to exit the market over the next five years.
"That means that supply will contract, and that means that average rents are likely to increase even further.
"So the picture is bleak across the board, really."
On the RTB figures, Conor says: "They're very depressing figures, I have to say - what they show is half of the people who are renting homes in Ireland spend more than 30% of their net income on rent.
"And more than one in 10 people are spending more than 50% of their net income on rent.
"They're staggeringly high sums, because if you're spending 50% of your net income on rent, that means you only have 50% left to cover all your utilities, food, commuting costs, travelling costs.
"And it's incredibly difficult for people."
