Ireland needs more rental properties provided by large-scale corporate landlords, the Minister for Public Expenditure has said.
Paschal Donohoe said there needed to be a “healthy” mix of providers in the rental accommodation market.
It follows a report from the Rental Tenancies Board which found that landlords with more than 100 tenancies accounted for 22.55 per cent of all private tenancies registered in the first quarter of this year.
Outside Dublin, landlords with more than 100 tenancies accounted for 2.56 per cent.
Concern has been raised that the sizeable proportion of such properties controlled by large funds may lead to rents being sustained at higher levels.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Donohoe said large corporate providers are the “only way” to reach targets for private rental accommodation.
He said: “We have always argued that we need a mix of providers of rental accommodation within our country and particularly within our larger cities.
“Far from seeing corporate investors as a sign of failure, if we want to provide a lot more rental properties and rental homes within our country, we need investors and companies who can do it at scale – and the corporate sector is the only way that that can be done.”
Mr Donohoe said corporate investors and tenants in these areas are also subject to legislation limiting rent increase, adding: “We want to ensure that tenants get a fair deal too.”
Figures from the RTB also show that the number of landlords associated with private tenancies registered with the RTB has risen.
Amid concerns that smaller landlords were fleeing the market in large numbers, the Government previously introduced tax relief for such providers who pledged to keep their properties available for rent for a number of years.
Asked if measures introduced by the Government to prevent smaller landlords from leaving the market were misdirected, the Minister said: “The measures that we brought in were about retention, and the fact that we are seeing some evidence that small landlords are deciding they still want to stay in the rented sector, for me, is a very positive sign and a sign that some of the measures that we brought in did have an effect.
“We need a diversity of providers of rental accommodation in Ireland.
“We need small landlords, but we also need larger investors who can provide rental accommodation at scale.”
When specifically pressed on what proportion of rental accommodation he believed should be provided by corporate landlords, Mr Donohoe refused to provide a figure: “I don’t really have a strong view in relation to that.
“For me, it’s about seeing rental accommodation itself go up.”
However, he said a figure as high as 80 per cent would not be indicative of healthy diversity in the sector.
Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin O Broin said the private rental sector is “still too insecure and expensive for most people”.
In a statement, he added: “Ultimately the solution to the housing crisis is not more landlords, but more social, affordable and private purchase homes.
“Sinn Féin’s ambitious alternative housing plan sets out how this could be achieved over five years through the delivery of 300,000 new build homes, with 75,000 social, 50,000 affordable and 115 private purchase homes.
“As these tenures increase, pressure on the private sector will reduce making it more stable, secure and ultimately more affordable for people who choose to live in it.”
