An average of 46 landlords a week are exiting the rental market, according to new figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).
The figures show that 550 landlords left the market this autumn alone as they cash in on rising property prices and low market supply.
This is leading it more and more difficult for people to rent homes with the chief executive of national housing charity Threshold, John-Mark McCaffrey, expressing concern at the trend.
New rent controls being imposed by the Government are also being blamed for pushing landlords out of the market.
The data from the RTB shows that landlords selling up their properties, or them or their families moving in, accounts for 77pc of evictions in the past three years.
Over the summer, 498 landlords evicted tenants and sold their properties but a further 550 gave notices to quit for the same reason over the autumn months.
So far this year, 2,080 landlords have left the market.
This compares to 1,902 landlords exiting the market in 2020.
During the autumn, 62pc of all evictions were landlords who were selling their properties while a fifth of evictions were declared because landlords or their families were moving back into the property.
John-Mark McCafferty, CEO of Threshold, told The Irish Independent they were “concerned” about the impact this was having on tenants.
“The lack of rental properties – and therefore lack of options for tenants – is further compounded by the exodus of landlords. The Government needs to consider how best to utilise the tax system in order to retain smaller landlords in the sector, given that they make up the majority of tenancies, especially among the private renters that Threshold assist," he said.
