Galway Bay fm newsroom - Rents in Galway city and county increased by over 6% during the first quarter of this year.
According to property website Daft.ie, rents in the city rose by 6.1% - with the average rent now standing at €1,400.
In the county, rents increased by 6.7% over the period to an average letting price of €995.
Prices in the West rose by 7.9% year-on-year, reflecting a sharp fall in availability - with just 161 homes available to rent on May 1st, down almost 45% compared to a year ago.
Nationally average rents increased by 2% over the period - with regional cities seeing the sharpest increases.
Two of the most expensive areas for property in the country are the only places in Ireland where repaying a mortgage on a three bedroom home is more expensive than paying rent.
In every area, apart from Dublin 4 and Dublin 6 including the capital as a whole, it is cheaper, and close to half the cost in some cases, to pay a mortgage than rent the same property.
