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SUMMARY
What rental yield can you get in Dublin property? A realistic answer today is roughly 6% to 8% gross for many investable apartments and lower-priced houses, with the strongest apartment opportunities pushing into the 8%–9% range and expensive family homes often closer to 5%.
The citywide average is not very useful on its own. Dublin’s yield map is mostly a rent-to-purchase-price story: North Dublin City, West Dublin and some central locations often come out strongest because rents stay high without the same purchase-price premium seen in the south.
Apartments generally beat houses on gross yield. Two- and three-bedroom apartments can land around 8% in stronger areas, while larger family houses in expensive southern districts can fall below 5% because purchase prices rise much faster than rents.
The 8% headline is achievable, but it is not what the landlord keeps. Vacancy, service charges, insurance and maintenance can easily remove one to two percentage points before mortgage interest and tax.
A €400,000 apartment at €2,500 a month produces 7.5% gross. With ordinary vacancy and €3,000–€4,000 of annual operating costs, the investable yield can fall to roughly 6%–6.5% before financing.
Rent growth is still supportive, but apartment prices are moving quickly too. Dublin apartment prices have recently risen faster than houses, so today’s attractive apartment yields look more resilient than obviously headed higher.
The legal rent attached to the property can matter almost as much as the property itself. An occupied apartment with a below-market sitting rent can immediately yield a full percentage point or more less than a comparable vacant property, and current rent-control rules can limit how quickly that gap closes.
Financing changes the picture again. Buy-to-let mortgage rates around 5% mean a highly leveraged buyer can own a property with decent gross economics and still end up with modest cash flow after operating costs and interest.
That is why a practical target should be higher for financed purchases. Around 6.5%–7% gross can still work for a clean cash investment, while 7.5%–8% is a more sensible hurdle when borrowing heavily or buying into a building with high service charges.
Airbnb revenue can look much better on paper, but it should not be used to justify the purchase price unless short-term letting is clearly legal for that specific property. Dublin’s planning and registration framework makes normal long-term rent the safer base case.
The best Dublin income deals are therefore not simply the cheapest properties or the highest advertised rents. They are the properties where a strong legal rent, manageable service charges, low remediation risk and a sensible purchase price all line up.
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What rental yield can you realistically get from Dublin property today?
A realistic Dublin rental yield currently sits around 6% to 8% gross for many investable apartments and cheaper houses, while expensive family homes can fall closer to 5%.
That range comes from comparing current asking prices with current asking rents across Dublin rather than using one citywide average. The difference between areas is large. Recent Daft-based market calculations put two-bedroom apartment yields at roughly 6.5% in South Dublin County, 6.6% in South Dublin City, around 8.0% in the city centre, 8.4% in North Dublin County, 8.5% in West Dublin and 8.6% in North Dublin City.
Houses generally sit lower. Three-bedroom houses range from about 5.3% gross in South Dublin County to roughly 7.7% in West Dublin. Four-bedroom houses can drop below 5% in the most expensive southern areas.
So a landlord buying well can still find 7%+ gross yields in Dublin today. Getting 8% is possible too, especially with apartments. Once service charges, maintenance, empty periods and other costs are included, though, the return reaching the landlord is usually lower by around one to two percentage points before mortgage interest and tax.
| Dublin property | Lower end | Typical stronger range | Upper end |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bed apartment | ~6.7% | 7.5%–8.0% | ~8.2% |
| 2-bed apartment | ~6.5% | 7.5%–8.4% | ~8.6% |
| 3-bed apartment | ~6.3% | 7.5%–8.5% | ~8.8% |
| 2-bed house | ~6.0% | 6.5%–7.2% | ~7.6% |
| 3-bed house | ~5.3% | 6.0%–7.0% | ~7.7% |
| 4-bed house | ~4.8% | 5.5%–6.5% | ~7.2% |
Why can Dublin rental yields still reach 7% or 8% when property is so expensive?
Dublin rents are now high enough to support surprisingly strong gross yields in parts of the city, even though buying property remains expensive.
The latest official CSO transaction data put the median Dublin dwelling price at €500,000 over the latest 12-month period. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was much higher at €682,334, while the A94 Blackrock area reached a median €851,750.
Yet tenants are also paying very high rents. Current Dublin listings regularly put ordinary two-bedroom apartments above €2,300 a month, with stronger central and southern locations closer to €2,700–€3,000.
A €400,000 apartment rented for €2,400 a month generates €28,800 a year, or 7.2% gross. A €350,000 apartment only needs €2,333 a month to reach 8%.
And yes, those combinations are possible in Dublin now.
The difficulty comes at the expensive end of the market. An €850,000 property would need rent of about €5,667 a month to generate an 8% gross yield. Even €3,500 a month produces only 4.9%.
That explains much of Dublin's yield map. Rents rise as neighbourhoods become more desirable, but property prices often rise much faster. Cheaper apartments and houses can therefore produce far better income returns than premium homes.
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New apartments are priced against what an institution will pay for a whole block rather than what one buyer should. Where asking prices sit furthest from what places actually earn and resell for.
Are Dublin rents still rising fast enough to support property yields?
Dublin rents are still under serious upward pressure, but we should no longer assume that rent growth will automatically push rental yields higher.
The newest RTB/ESRI Rent Index shows how strong the rental market remains. Across Ireland, the standardised rent for a new tenancy reached €1,839 in Q1, up 9.1% from a year earlier. That was a sharp acceleration from 5.4% growth in the previous quarter. Existing-tenancy rents rose much more slowly, by 4.2%.
Dublin's asking-rent market has also stayed tight. Recent Daft data showed strong annual rent growth in the capital alongside very limited availability.
Property prices are moving at the same time. According to the latest CSO Residential Property Price Index, Dublin prices increased 4.6% over the latest year. Dublin house prices rose 3.9%, while apartments jumped 7.0%.
That 7% apartment increase deserves attention because apartments currently produce Dublin's best gross rental yields.
Suppose a €350,000 apartment rents for €2,300 a month. The gross yield is 7.89%. If both the rent and the property price rise 7%, the yield stays at 7.89%.
If the apartment gains 8% while rent rises only 4%, the yield falls to roughly 7.6%.
For now, Dublin's rental shortage is supporting rents strongly enough to keep good yields available. Apartment prices are rising quickly enough, though, that those yields look resilient rather than rapidly improving.
Do Dublin apartments give better rental yields than houses?
Dublin apartments currently beat houses on gross rental yield across most of the city, often by enough to remain ahead even after apartment service charges.
The difference is clearest in North Dublin City. Recent market calculations put one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment yields at roughly 8.2%, 8.6% and 8.8%. Houses in the same broad area sit closer to 6.9% for two bedrooms, 7.5% for three bedrooms and 6.6% for four.
The same pattern appears in South Dublin County. Apartments there cluster around 6.5%–6.7%, while a three-bedroom house is closer to 5.3% and a four-bedroom house around 4.8%.
Large houses certainly earn higher monthly rents. Their purchase prices increase even faster, partly because buyers are paying for land, extra space, schools and established family neighbourhoods.
That makes apartments the cleaner income play in Dublin today.
They come with their own costs, especially annual management-company charges and possible special levies. A €2,000 or €2,500 service charge takes a noticeable bite out of a €25,000–€30,000 rental income stream. Even so, it rarely wipes out a two- or three-point gross-yield advantage.
| Dublin area | 1-bed apartment | 2-bed apartment | 3-bed apartment | 3-bed house |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Centre | ~7.9% | ~8.0% | ~8.7% | — |
| North Dublin City | ~8.2% | ~8.6% | ~8.8% | ~7.5% |
| South Dublin City | ~6.7% | ~6.6% | ~6.3% | ~6.6% |
| North Dublin County | ~7.4% | ~8.4% | ~7.9% | ~6.4% |
| South Dublin County | ~6.7% | ~6.5% | ~6.6% | ~5.3% |
| West Dublin | ~8.1% | ~8.5% | ~8.2% | ~7.7% |
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Where can you get the highest rental yields in Dublin?
North Dublin City, West Dublin and parts of the city centre currently give landlords the strongest rent-to-price ratios, with many apartment calculations landing around 8% or higher.
South Dublin usually sits at the other end. That has less to do with weak rents than with extremely high purchase prices.
Take two-bedroom apartments. Current broad-area calculations come to roughly 8.6% in North Dublin City, 8.5% in West Dublin and 8.4% in North Dublin County. South Dublin City comes in around 6.6%, with South Dublin County around 6.5%.
The same pattern has appeared repeatedly in more detailed Dublin yield studies. Finglas, Ballyfermot, Cabra, Inchicore, Phibsborough and parts of the north inner city have often produced stronger yields because landlords can access Dublin rental demand without paying the same purchase-price premium found in places such as Dublin 4, Dublin 6 or Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
For example, moving from a €350,000 investment property to a €650,000 one increases the purchase price by 86%. If rent rises from €2,300 to €3,000, rental income increases by only 30%.
The cheaper property yields 7.9%. The expensive one yields 5.5%.
We still have to look beyond the percentage. A cheap apartment with a problematic management company, major remediation work or unusually high service charges can easily be worse than a cleaner property yielding one point less.
But if rental income is the priority, North and West Dublin are the obvious places to search first.
Is an 8% rental yield in Dublin actually realistic?
An 8% gross rental yield is genuinely achievable in Dublin today, particularly on apartments, but an 8% net yield would be exceptional.
Take a €360,000 apartment rented for €2,400 a month. Annual rent comes to €28,800, giving exactly 8% gross.
Now allow two weeks without rent over the year. Collected rent falls to around €27,700. Suppose the apartment also costs €2,000 a year in management charges, €600 for insurance and miscellaneous fixed costs, and roughly €1,400 in average maintenance.
Operating income falls to around €23,700.
That leaves a yield of roughly 6.6% on the €360,000 purchase price before mortgage interest and tax.
The 8% headline figure was perfectly real. The landlord simply never gets to keep the whole 8%.
This distinction becomes even more important when comparing Dublin property with other investments. A gross property yield is revenue divided by purchase price. A bond yield or deposit rate usually requires far fewer operating expenses to turn the headline percentage into actual income.
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How much do costs cut a Dublin landlord's rental yield?
Normal Dublin landlord costs can easily remove around one to two percentage points from the gross rental yield before financing and tax.
Consider a €400,000 apartment rented for €2,500 a month. Annual rent is €30,000 and the headline gross yield is 7.5%.
Two weeks of vacancy reduce collected rent to about €28,846. Subtract €2,000 in annual management charges and another €1,000 for insurance, routine maintenance and smaller expenses, and income falls to roughly €25,846.
The property now produces about 6.46%.
If operating costs reach €4,000, the yield drops to around 6.2%. One full empty month combined with €4,000 of expenses takes it below 5.9%.
Some properties will do better. Others will be worse, especially older apartments with high service charges or houses that need regular repairs.
Irish tax rules allow landlords to deduct qualifying costs such as insurance, management expenses, maintenance, RTB registration and qualifying mortgage interest when calculating taxable rental profit. The tax deduction helps, but the landlord still spends the cash.
That is why a Dublin property advertised at 7.5% gross should never be casually described as a 7.5% investment return.
| €400,000 apartment at €2,500/month | Income left | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| Headline rent | €30,000 | 7.50% |
| After 2 weeks without rent | €28,846 | 7.21% |
| After €3,000 operating costs | €25,846 | 6.46% |
| After €4,000 operating costs | €24,846 | 6.21% |
| 1 empty month + €4,000 costs | €23,500 | 5.88% |
Can a Dublin landlord still raise the rent to the current market rate?
A Dublin landlord usually cannot chase the market upward every year: most rents can currently rise only once every 12 months by CPI or 2%, whichever is lower.
Ireland moved to a national rent-control system for private tenancies this year. The RTB rules cap annual increases at the lower of inflation or 2% for most properties.
There is an important distinction between older and newer tenancies.
For private tenancies that began before the new system came in, resetting to market rent is generally unavailable. For qualifying tenancies created under the new rules, the rent can be reset to market level when a new tenancy starts in certain circumstances, including when the previous tenant left voluntarily or breached the tenancy agreement. A further market reset is allowed at the end of a six-year tenancy cycle.
There are exceptions. New apartments where construction began after the specified cut-off can follow CPI without the 2% ceiling.
So the rent written into the tenancy matters enormously.
Suppose two comparable €400,000 apartments could command €2,500 a month on today's open market. One already has a tenant paying €2,100 and cannot immediately reset.
The first property offers a potential 7.5% gross yield. The occupied property produces only 6.3%.
That 1.2-point gap exists before we change anything about the apartment itself.
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Does buying a Dublin property with a sitting tenant reduce the yield?
A Dublin property with a sitting tenant can produce a much lower immediate yield than an identical vacant property if the existing rent has fallen behind today's market.
The RTB Rent Index shows why this deserves proper attention. New tenancies and existing tenancies are now moving at very different speeds nationally: new-tenancy rents rose 9.1% over the latest year, while existing-tenancy rents increased 4.2%.
That gap builds over time.
If a €400,000 apartment produces €2,300 a month, gross yield is 6.9%. At €1,950 a month, it falls to 5.85%.
The annual income difference is €4,200.
At a 7% target yield, €27,600 of annual rent supports a value of roughly €394,000. Annual rent of €23,400 supports only about €334,000 at the same yield.
That is a €60,000 difference in what an income investor could justify paying.
The legal rent therefore needs to be checked before the offer price, rather than treated as something to sort out later.
For an occupied Dublin investment, we would want to see the current registered rent, tenancy start date, previous rent reviews and the exact conditions under which a future market reset would be allowed.
Are Dublin property yields likely to rise from here?
We would not bet on a broad rise in Dublin rental yields from here because rents and property prices are both increasing, and apartment prices are currently moving especially fast.
The latest CSO figures have Dublin residential prices up 4.6% over the year. Houses gained 3.9%, while apartments rose 7.0%.
At the same time, the latest RTB data confirm strong pressure on new-tenancy rents, with national growth accelerating to 9.1%.
Those figures leave Dublin in a fairly tight race between rent growth and price growth.
Take the same €350,000 apartment renting for €2,300. It yields 7.89%.
If rent increases 6% and the apartment price rises 4%, the yield improves to about 8.04%.
Reverse that relationship, with rent up 4% and the property up 7%, and the yield slips to around 7.67%.
A few percentage points of difference between the two growth rates quickly changes the economics.
Apartment investors should watch this especially closely. Dublin apartments currently produce some of the city's best yields, but their prices have also been rising faster than Dublin houses.
For now, the evidence supports good existing yields more strongly than a story of yields getting steadily better.
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Does Dublin's rental shortage mean landlords can ignore vacancy?
A normal Dublin rental property currently has very low demand risk, but using zero vacancy in a yield calculation is still too optimistic.
The practical evidence is visible every day in the market. Current Daft listings show ordinary two-bedroom apartments in areas such as Dublin 8, Dublin 2, Dublin 6 and Dublin 18 asking roughly €2,350 to €3,000 a month. The wider rental market has repeatedly shown far fewer available homes than Dublin tenant demand can comfortably absorb.
That gives landlords a strong position when a decent property is correctly priced.
Still, some empty time is unavoidable over a long ownership period. Tenants leave. Cleaning and repairs take time. A property may need painting, new appliances or more substantial work before another tenant moves in.
Two vacant weeks equal about 3.8% of one year's rental income.
One month equals 8.3%.
For an apartment with an 8% headline yield, one empty month reduces the collected-rent yield to roughly 7.33% before we pay a single maintenance bill.
Dublin's shortage makes prolonged vacancy much less likely than in an oversupplied rental market. A sensible investment calculation still leaves room for turnover.
Do Dublin buy-to-let mortgage rates kill the cash flow?
Dublin buy-to-let financing is expensive enough to turn a good 7% property yield into fairly modest cash flow once the landlord borrows heavily.
Published buy-to-let mortgage rates from major Irish lenders currently sit roughly around the 5% area, with the exact rate depending on the bank, loan-to-value and mortgage structure.
Bank of Ireland's published representative buy-to-let variable rate is around 4.85%. AIB's representative standard-variable example is around 5.2%, while PTSB publishes buy-to-let rates that can run from roughly 5.3% upward.
The leverage is also limited. A typical buy-to-let mortgage may require the investor to put down at least 30%.
Take a €400,000 apartment generating €30,000 of yearly rent, equivalent to 7.5% gross.
Assume €4,000 disappears through vacancy and operating expenses, leaving €26,000 before financing.
With a €280,000 mortgage at 5.2%, first-year interest comes to roughly €14,560.
Only about €11,440 remains before principal repayments and tax.
The property itself can therefore have decent rental economics while the leveraged cash flow feels far less impressive.
This is why we would demand more yield from a financed Dublin investment than from an all-cash purchase.
| €400,000 property, €30,000 rent | Cash purchase | 50% debt | 70% debt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross property yield | 7.50% | 7.50% | 7.50% |
| Income after €4,000 operating costs | €26,000 | €26,000 | €26,000 |
| Mortgage debt | €0 | €200,000 | €280,000 |
| Interest at 5.2% | €0 | €10,400 | €14,560 |
| Income after costs and interest | €26,000 | €15,600 | €11,440 |
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What gross rental yield should you target when buying in Dublin?
We would want at least 6.5%–7% gross before getting seriously interested in a normal Dublin long-term rental, and closer to 7.5%–8% when financing or high apartment charges are involved.
A 7% gross yield still has enough room to survive normal costs.
After vacancy, maintenance, insurance and service charges, that 7% may settle somewhere around 5.5%–6% before financing and tax. A cash buyer can still find that attractive given Dublin's strong tenant demand.
At 5% gross, the room for error becomes much smaller. The same operating costs can leave only 3.5%–4.5%.
At that point, a landlord is relying much more on future property-price growth to make the investment worthwhile.
An 8% property gives us far more breathing room. Even after costs, a well-run property might retain something around 6%–7% before financing and tax.
The target also depends on the building. We could accept 6.5% from a clean, modern property with modest charges, good tenants and easy resale more readily than 7.5% from an apartment facing major remediation work.
But for an ordinary Dublin investment bought primarily for income, paying a premium price for a 4.5%–5% gross yield is difficult to justify today.
Does Airbnb give Dublin landlords a much higher rental yield?
Airbnb can produce higher gross revenue in Dublin, but a long-term landlord should never value an ordinary property on Airbnb income unless the short-term letting is clearly legal for that specific property.
The revenue can look tempting.
At €180 per night and 75% occupancy, a property would generate close to €49,000 of gross annual bookings. That is far above the €25,000–€35,000 annual rent generated by many standard Dublin tenancies.
Short-term rentals also have much higher running costs. Cleaning, utilities, furnishing, linen, platform fees and hands-on management consume a significant share of revenue.
Planning and regulation are the bigger constraint.
Ireland has tightened the rules around short-term accommodation, with planning restrictions already applying in relevant areas and further registration requirements being introduced for short stays.
A Dublin investment bought at a price that only makes sense under Airbnb economics is therefore much riskier than one that already works as a normal tenancy.
For yield comparisons, the clean approach is simple: calculate the property first using the rent it can legally earn under a standard long-term tenancy. Any compliant short-term rental upside comes after that.
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So what rental yield can you actually get from Dublin property?
A well-bought Dublin rental property can currently produce around 6% to 8% gross, with some apartments reaching 8%–9%, while expensive houses often sit closer to 5%.
The strongest income maths is in apartments and lower-priced parts of Dublin. North Dublin City, West Dublin and selected central locations repeatedly come out around the top of the range. South Dublin's high property values pull yields down, especially for larger houses.
Once we include realistic running costs, an advertised 7%–8% gross yield will often leave something closer to 5.5%–7% before mortgage interest and tax.
Financing makes the threshold higher again. With buy-to-let borrowing still costing around 5%, a heavily leveraged investor has little reason to get excited about a 5% or 6% gross yield.
Our practical cut-off would therefore be around 6.5%–7% gross for a clean cash investment and closer to 7.5%–8% when the property carries expensive financing, high service charges or more maintenance risk.
Dublin can still offer genuinely good rental yields today. The attractive deals sit in a fairly specific part of the market: apartments and reasonably priced homes where rent remains high relative to the purchase price. At €700,000, €800,000 or more, rent usually fails to keep up with the amount of capital required, and the yield quickly becomes much less interesting.
OUR METHODOLOGY
This analysis tests what rental yield a Dublin property investor can realistically earn today. We compare current rent-to-price ratios across Dublin, then adjust the headline figures for the costs, financing rules and rent-setting constraints that can materially change the return a landlord actually receives.
We use Daft’s Q1 2026 rental report as the main listed-market source for current rents and gross market yields by Dublin region and property type. We use the RTB/ESRI Rent Index to separate new-tenancy rents from existing-tenancy rents and to track how quickly each is changing.
Property prices are anchored to the CSO Residential Property Price Index and its underlying transaction data. That lets us compare rental growth with completed-sale price growth rather than relying only on asking prices.
We treat gross yield as a screening metric, not as the landlord’s final return. The examples in the article therefore test the same properties after realistic vacancy, management charges, insurance and maintenance, while tax treatment is checked against Revenue guidance on allowable rental expenses and taxable rental profit.
Financing assumptions are based on the Central Bank of Ireland’s buy-to-let mortgage measures and current published lender pricing from Bank of Ireland, AIB and PTSB. Those sources are used to test how a roughly 5% borrowing cost and a typical 70% maximum loan-to-value can change cash flow.
Rent regulation is included directly in the investment analysis. We use the Residential Tenancies Board’s rules applying from 1 March 2026 to distinguish the open-market rent a vacant property might achieve from the legal rent attached to an existing tenancy and the circumstances in which a market reset may be possible.
Short-term letting is treated separately from the core long-term rental case. Dublin City Council guidance and national government material are used to check planning and registration constraints, so Airbnb-style revenue is not used to justify a purchase unless that use is realistically compliant.
Key sources used for this analysis include: Daft.ie Rental Report Q1 2026, the RTB/ESRI Rent Index, RTB Rent Index Q1 2026, RTB rent-setting and review rules, the CSO Residential Property Price Index for June 2026, Central Bank of Ireland mortgage measures, Bank of Ireland buy-to-let mortgage pricing, AIB mortgage regulatory information, PTSB buy-to-let mortgage pricing, Revenue guidance on allowable rental expenses, Dublin City Council short-term letting rules, and Government of Ireland guidance on the short-term let register.
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