Mayo has one of the highest ratios of short-term lets to homes to rent in the country.
Analysis released by national housing charity Threshold has shown that there are now over 8,600 short-term lets advertised across Ireland, compared to 2,100 available in the private rental market, demonstrating a national ratio of 4:1.
In Mayo, the ratio stands at 14:1 with 350 short-term lets compared to 25 rentals.
Other parts of the West also had ratios higher than the national one, with a ratio of 24.5:1 in Donegal, 9.5:1 in Galway City and County, and 6:1 in Sligo.
At 2.7:1, Roscommon has a ratio below that of the national average.
Threshold said that the analysed short-term let figures are conservative as they exclude hosts with only one listing, on the assumption that the listing could be the host’s own home, as well as excluding properties that would not be suitable for long-term rental, such as campervans, cabins, and tiny homes.
Recently, the government backtracked on moves to place restrictions on the granting of planning permission in towns with more than 10,000 people for short-term lets by raising this limit to 20,000.
Threshold has labelled the move as “deeply concerning” as some of the most impacted areas are in more rural parts of the country.
They also said that change-of-use planning permission is an existing requirement with data from local authorities indicating that just 1.3% of short-term lets are compliant with this rule.
The charity said that the data they released underlines that housing supply is not only about building new homes, but also about protecting existing homes for long-term use, particularly during a worsening homelessness and affordability crisis.
