Threshold is calling on the Government to introduce a register of short-term lets.
The charity has published figures showing over 20 thousand homes advertised as short-term lets across Ireland,
That's compared to 2 thousand 300 available nationwide in the private rental market.
Threshold carried out an analysis of data published by insideairbnb.com, which revealed that there were 20,176 properties listed as short-term lets 12 weeks ago. By comparison, there were fewer than 2,300 long-term lets available on Daft.ie last month.
While hosts can short-let a principal private residence for 90 days without a change in use in planning permission, there are almost 8,000 full properties on the popular short-stay website, where the host operates more than one property.
Yet only 401 applications for “change of use” planning permission have been made since laws were introduced in 2019. The data showed that one couple, described as private hosts, have 189 live listings. A three-bed home in Ranelagh, Dublin, was being advertised for two weeks in June at a cost of €3,885.
Another individual private host in Dublin 24 was advertising a three-bed home, from March 15 to March 22, for €1,330 with a seven-day minimum stay.
Despite a well-documented supply crisis in Ireland’s long-term housing market, Threshold has accused the Government of not treating short-term lets as a priority.
Threshold CEO John-Mark McCafferty has accused the Government of “kicking this issue down the road” despite claiming housing is the number one issue in Ireland.
“The bottom line here is that there could be many homes brought back to the long-term market,” he said. “This is resulting in thousands of homes being advertised for short-term lets in this lucrative market, while the housing and rental crisis escalates nationwide.”
It now looks likely that the long-promised register won’t be introduced until at least summer 2026.
