With Dublin rents breaking new records, build-to-rent developments have become a central feature of the city's housing market — but do they genuinely deliver value for tenants?
The Red Oak at Cualanor, a build-to-rent scheme in Dún Laoghaire, is currently advertising one-bedroom units at €2,200 per month – a figure that puts the project well above the city’s average rental rate. Yet every unit that comes online is snapped up within days. As new schemes pop up in Cherrywood and the Docklands, thousands of Dubliners are left weighing whether premium amenities and leases tailored for renters truly justify the asking price, and how these offerings stack up against the ever-distant prospect of buying.
Affordability is sharper than ever as Dublin faces a record rental squeeze. Average monthly rents reached €2,194 in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest Residential Tenancies Board figures. With home prices still climbing (the median price for a two-bedroom apartment in Phibsborough now €435,000), many who once aimed to buy are facing long waits for mortgage approval or have simply moved that dream out of reach. For these would-be buyers, build-to-rent seems like the only middle ground—if not the ideal one.
Developers have zeroed in on lifestyle extras to set build-to-rent apart from the city’s ageing private stock. Greystar’s Quayside Quarter in the Docklands, completed in late 2025, offers high-speed Wi-Fi, gym access, private dining rooms, and landscaped roof terraces – all bundled into the monthly rent. Clúid Housing’s affordable rental scheme at the Distillery in Drumcondra, while built under a different model, is also offering communal lounges and shared workspaces as its main draw for cost-conscious professionals.
But the real USP is flexibility. Most of these developments eschew the standard fixed 12-month lease in favour of rolling contracts as short as six months. This appeals to tech workers on international contracts and families seeking ‘try before you buy’ options while they wait for the right property to purchase. Proximity to major employers is a selling point too—both the Central Bank campus on North Wall Quay and Google’s hub in Barrow Street are within cycling distance of multiple large BTR blocks. Still, the waiting lists suggest high demand despite eye-watering rents.
Rents in BTR schemes are typically 15-20% higher than comparable long-term lets. Data from Savills shows that two-bedroom BTR apartments at Mount Argus, Harold’s Cross, average €2,800 per month, compared to €2,350 in older stock nearby. By contrast, the mortgage repayment on a €435,000 apartment (assuming a 10% deposit and 4% interest over 30 years) is now €1,740 monthly—if you can scrape together the €43,500 deposit and persuade the bank you’re mortgage-ready. As a result, the percentage of new home buyers under 36 continues to slide, down from 33% in 2020 to just 21% last year, per CSO data.
Some BTR schemes offer more predictable annual increases—typically capped at the permitted 2% under Rent Pressure Zone rules—but these limits only partly ease concerns about long-term affordability. Meanwhile, a small but growing group of tenants in new schemes such as Richmond Park Residences, Inchicore, are organising for more rights around eviction prevention and service charge transparency.
For those in the market now, agents suggest viewing fast, gathering documentation early, and checking resident reviews. Local hardware startups like Renty are also tracking BTR inventory in real time, a boon for renters who missed out last year. As the city council considers tightening regulation on new BTR proposals after neighbourhood pushback in Ringsend and Stoneybatter, the sector’s future mix of flexibility and cost will likely be shaped as much by local politics as by new supply.
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