IF the wandering labourer from An Spailpin Fanach were to turn up in Galway this week, he might have great difficulty in finding a short-term let. Although it is known as a transient city, mainly due to its large student population, more property owners are tending to opt for long-term tenants.
It is the first time this has happened in many years, according to Deirdre Maxwell of Maxwell & Co, a long-established auctioneering firm in Francis Street. "The main emphasis was always short-term before, with owners renting out to students during the winter and spring, and then looking for summer rentals at higher rates," she says.
"But that requires a lot of work - laundry, cleaning and generally preparing the place," she notes. "More and more people are seeing the advantages of the long-term arrangement, where the rent may be set at a lower rate but is consistent."
And there are plenty of customers. Galway's thriving economy has acted like a magnet, drawing in employees in their thousands to take up jobs in the computer software and medical equipment sectors in particular. Earlier this year, Galway was earmarked as one of five sites around the world for further development when two firms specialising in medical equipment "married" in a £3.7 billion dollar merger.
New housing estates are mushrooming on the city's outskirts, while most sites in the centre have been taken up for the construction of apartments. The rapid change is proving controversial: bodies like the Western Development Commission and the Tuam archdiocese express concern about the effect of this movement on outlying towns and villages in the west, where populations are still declining, and conservationists are embroiled in constant battles with Galway Corporation and County Council over controversial planning decisions.
If Galway is in danger of becoming "Europe's ugliest city", as a recent edition of the Irish language monthly, Cuisle put it, it has not had any impact on the residential property market. Such is the pressure on prices that many prospective house buyers are choosing to rent until such time as the market cools - whenever that may be.
Thus, students who once had the run of parts of the Newcastle area of the city are finding that they are having to compete with professionals - and the students are having to return weeks before term starts just to secure a letting. Paddy Jordan, president of NUI Galway students' union, has expressed concern about the effect this is having on students' pockets and on student lifestyles. The price of accommodation on the college campus, Corrib Village, has compounded a serious situation, he says. The union estimates that Galway students are paying 30 per cent above the State average for on-campus lettings. The university is also worried, as it has little or no control over management. The company running the accommodation, Corrib Village, is owned principally by MacNamara's construction firm, and the land is leased to two banks under a Section 23 tax benefit deal. When the university eventually inherits it, it is worried that it may inherit an outstanding debt.
Students are paying an average rent of £40 to £50 a week elsewhere, even for a single room. "Hot bunking", where two students share a room, is a growing trend to ease the financial burden. Irish Property News, the Galway-based estate agency which claims to have Ireland's largest property website, notes that landlords in the city are often guilty of overcharging. It has heard of students paying £80 a week for some small bedsits. Many landlords do not register with Galway Corporation, in spite of the legal obligation to do so.
Most of the estate agents confirm that supply is definitely not meeting demand, and it is therefore a landlords' market, with rents of £700 to £800 a month standard for two-bedroom apartments overlooking Galway Bay. Close to the university is still one of the most expensive areas, according to Deirdre Maxwell, who also notes that students are a bit fussy.
"They won't go out of the city area, and will pay £650 for something cleaner and perhaps more central than £500 for a fine three-bedroom house a little further away." Areas like Knocknacarra and Rahoon, within cycling distance of the university, are regarded as something of a penance.
"Put it like this. If I had ten city centre apartments to let today, they would all be snapped up by lunchtime. And that's fact."
