The State's cost rental housing scheme is offering tenants rents nearly 30% below private market levels, according to a new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute.
Cost Rental offers properties at a discount of 29.9% to private tenants, an analysis by the ESRI found.
The study, funded by the Department of Housing, said that the scheme is concentrated in the Dublin area.
The ESRI said expanding the presence of Cost Rental to other urban centres and regional towns facing affordability challenges will be important.
Cost Rental sets rents based on the economic cost of the provision of the accommodation rather than the price in the open rental market.
Professor Conor O'Toole, co-author of the report, said: "These findings show a clear affordability benefit for households in Cost Rental properties relative to what they would face in the private market."
The study recommended that periodic reviews of the scheme such as income thresholds and affordability criteria could help broaden access across and support wider geographic delivery.
Research Officer with the ESRI Dr Rachel Slaymaker said cost rentail schemes allow "really important affordability benefits for households".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said it can really reduce the amount of income that these households are spending on their rent, "which is obviously very positive for those households".
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Dr Slaymaker explained that the cost reduction is achieved by discounts - through, for example, taking out the developer margin, having access to long-term, low-cost finance at cheaper rates than would be available on the market.
She said certain schemes also have access to public land and discounted price land as well.
"So all of these are kind of coming together to reduce the cost that tenants are paying."
She said these schemes are always oversubscribed but that is reflective of the market generally where there is very strong price pressures and a lack of available accommodation.
"So it's really no surprise, I think, that there's a very strong demand for these cost rental properties. And we are obviously only at the kind of very initial stages of this new tenure. It was only introduced in 2021. Delivery has certainly ramped up. We see that very clearly in 2024 and 2025," she said.
"But obviously we know that there is a long-term lack of supply and it will certainly take time and there is a need to carry on scaling up that supply because … there are many households who would be looking to avail of this tenure."
