With the hit of the pandemic, many couples have begun disapproving of one-bedroom apartments due to the lack of space to work remotely and live. This has led to many of the properties near the Dublin docklands to drop in demand, essentially leading to that market collapsing on itself.
A report has shown that the rent has fallen an average of 13% on these properties since March of 2020, and even more so than that at the upper ends of the market. But while much of the short-term rentals for these properties fell, the report showed that the supply of the long-term rental units more than doubled. This, in combination with the reduced demand overall due to the COVID restrictions and limiting travelling, has cased the rent to fall in the second the third quarter of last year. The average rent for the properties was €2,312 per month, 6.97% lower than in 2019.
At the end of 2020, during the fourth quarter, the rent costs were able to stabilize due to rising demands mainly fueled by the returning of technology workers. But since the renewed lockdown measures that started back up in December, many of these workers have therefore cancelled their rent and demand has once again seen a drop. Overall, the market shows that COVID has impacted the fluctuation of property value and rent value pricing in the docklands more than any other location in Dublin, and as the pandemic continues it is uncertain when the demands of if the demands for these dockland properties will ever return to normal.
Despite all this, the report states that the outlook for residential properties in the docklands will stay strong with the workforce demand expecting to double in the next two years until 2022 to up to 80,000 individuals. And in 2020, there have been two new schemes launched in the docklands in the private rental sector.
Overall, it looks like the market will stay volatile throughout the quarantine with the general housing market being uncertain how the situation will affect prices. But once COVID restrictions begin to lift and the market returns to normal, the demand and growth of these dockland properties will also return to normal and rise even more than previously expected.
Lucas Zhang was a Finance major at Ohio State University. He writes about finance, mortgages, and technology for Irish Mortgage Brokers.
Relevant Links: Current state of Property values in the docklands, Will the price drops continue?
