The stark contrast between renting in the capital and renting in Donegal has come to light this week as prices in the capital hike upwards in anticipation of the annual influx of students to Dublin.

It’s fast approaching the end of August accommodation scramble as over 70,000 students will get their Leaving Cert results, with CAO offers coming out on August 21st. With thousands of students attending third level education in Dublin, Galway, and Cork, the search for accommodation is draining – and expensive. Students who opt to attend LYIT are in for a pleasant surprise compared to their Dublin bound counterparts on the renting front.

Although the particular properties mentioned in this article may not be suitable for students, the annual accommodation search has reignited criticism over the inaccessibility of Dublin for students, considering the extortionate prices are the second highest in the eurozone, second only to Paris.

It emerged today that foreign workers are actually turning down high-paid tech jobs in the capital due to renting “horror stories”, according to FORA.

Amongst the ‘share a double bed with a stranger for €500 a month’ type of ads on online property sites – one particular property emerged this week that got chins wagging.

The property – which has since been removed – was described by the poster as a “fine one-bedroom apartment”. For just €1,300 per month, you could get the keys to your very own… prefab.

To put that into context, if you were earning minimum wage and working a full 40 hour week, you would only have €185 extra per month to pay for bills, clothing, food, socialising. 87.5% of your wages would go on renting a prefab.

Donegal stands in stark contrast to Dublin on the renting front.

For less money, you could rent a luxurious 4,000 square foot six bedroom family home, fitted out with four bathrooms in Letterkenny with picturesque views of Lough Swilly. A large detached garage and a landscaped 0.85-acre site are also included.

You would even be €200 better off renting the six bedroom house rather than the prefab each month, which saves you a cool €2,400 a year.

The schism between the East and the West in terms of property prices continues to rise with the Daft.ie Rental Price Report Q1 for 2017 revealing that the average renting price for Donegal is €593, whereas in Dublin city centre it’s over three times as expensive at €1,690 on average.

 

According to Daft.ie, in Donegal the average price for a house is €145,217, a 2% change since last quarter, and a year on year change of 5%. Prices are over double in Dublin City Centre at €299,635, a 6.1% quarter on quarter change (18.2% year on year).

The figures are even more jaw-dropping if you’re looking to buy in South Dublin, where you can be expected to shell out  €563,442 on average.