Persistently high rental prices in new tenancies in Co Galway will be investigated by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) following “concerning” trends noted in their latest rental index.

The RTB published its Director’s Quarterly Update for Q2 of 2025 on Thursday, which included the RTB/ESRI rental index to the end of 2024.

It found that the average rent for new tenancies across the country rose by 5.5 per cent over the last year, standing at €1,680 per month.

This represents a moderation in rental growth, down from 9.1 per cent in 2023.

The story is similar in terms of existing tenancies, which rose by 4.6 per cent to €1,440, down from a 5.9 per cent rise in 2023.

However, in Galway there have been eight consecutive quarters of high growth in new tenancy rent prices. There are also concerns around the registration of tenancies in the county.

The RTB says it will “engage directly with renters, landlords and other stakeholders in the county this June to investigate the trend further”.

Further to the persistently high rise in rents in the county, the RTB has also published eight sanctions against landlords based in Galway for breaches of rental law.

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Seven of those eight landlords in Galway were sanctioned for breaches of Rent Pressure Zones rules and were fined between €200 and €4,400.

A Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) is a designated area where rent increases are capped at 2 per cent per year, or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

All areas in Co Galway are designated as Rent Pressure Zones.

A further 28 sanctions against landlords nationally were also published by the RTB on Thursday.

This includes a fine of €22,000 against Sweet Home Accommodation Ltd for properties on Lower Leeson Street, Middle Abbey Street and Upper Abbey Street in Dublin for failure to register tenancies.