The DAFT.IE Rent report makes interesting reading. Are FTBs postponing their house purchases and pushing up rents?

"With high rates of home ownership and a booming economy, it is understandable that much of the focus in the past few years, when it came to the property market, was on house prices. The last six months have seen a shift, though, and the spotlight is well and truly on the rental sector. And while soaring house prices had been grabbing all the headlines, the rental market was also entering uncharted territory. Rents have risen in both absolute and year-on-year terms each quarter since late 2004. Recently, the pace at which rents have been rising reached record speed. As shown in the last Daft Rental report, the first quarter of 2007 saw rent increases of 10.8% compared to the same period in 2006. In the second quarter this figure increased to 12.4%

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Meanwhile, all commentators agree that, when looked at in month-on-month or year-on-year terms, the house price boom is over, something fans of the Daft report have known since mid-2006, when asking price inflation started to slow dramatically. With house prices now static, all eyes are on the rental market to see what next for Ireland’s property market. A healthy rental sector that absorbed a shift in supply from sales to letting would reassure people of the fundamentals and steady the nerves. A faltering rental sector, though, with rapidly rising inventories and tumbling rents, would not augur well for house prices over the next two to three years."