Short-Term Lets Outnumber Rental Homes By 3.7-to-1 in Cork

A national housing charity has warned that Ireland's short-term letting market is making the rental crisis significantly worse, with new figures showing that Cork City and County has 3.7 holiday lets for every one home available to rent long-term.

Analysis published today by Threshold reveals that there are 702 short-term lets listed by multi-property hosts in Cork City and County, compared to just 192 private rental homes advertised on Daft.ie in early March 2026. Nationally, the picture is even starker, with 8,635 entire properties listed on short-term letting platforms by multi-property hosts, versus fewer than 2,100 homes available to privately rent, a ratio of 4.1 to 1.

The figures are drawn from Inside Airbnb data captured in September 2025 and Daft.ie listings from March 2026. Threshold describes them as conservative: they exclude hosts with only one property listed, on the basis that such listings could be the owner's own home, and also exclude structures not suited to long-term living, such as cabins, campervans, and yurts. When single-property hosts are included, the total number of entire homes or apartments available as short-term holiday lets across Ireland rises to 20,039.

Some rural counties show an imbalance that is, frankly, eye-watering. Kerry tops the table with 1,009 short-term lets and just 33 homes to rent, a ratio of 30.6 to 1. Clare follows at 28 to 1, with Donegal at 24.5 to 1, Mayo at 14 to 1, and Leitrim at 12.4 to 1.

Threshold points out that change-of-use planning permission is already a legal requirement before converting a residential home into a short-term tourist let. Yet between 2019 and May 2025, local authorities received just 426 applications for such change-of-use, amounting to approximately 1.3% of short-term lets at that time.

From 20 May 2026, all short-term lets will be required to register with Fáilte Ireland under new EU regulations, including the display of a unique registration number on advertising platforms. Threshold welcomes the transparency this will bring, but argues that registration alone will not return homes to long-term use without meaningful enforcement and planning requirements attached.

The charity is also raising concern about a recent Government decision to raise the population threshold for planning restrictions on short-term lets from 10,000 to 20,000, a change it says will leave many affected rural communities without adequate protection.

John-Mark McCafferty, CEO of Threshold, said:

"Housing is a national emergency, and in an emergency we must use every policy lever available to increase supply. This means protecting existing homes, so they are available to rent long-term for families and people who need somewhere secure to live."

He added:

"Our analysis shows that nationally there are over four short-term lets for every one home available to rent. In several counties, the imbalance is far more extreme. These are communities at risk of being hollowed out, where homes sit empty or underused for parts of the year while workers and families cannot find anywhere to live."

Threshold says it looks forward to working with the Government on strengthening enforcement of short-term let regulations, and has called on Ministers to restore the original 10,000-population planning permission threshold as part of the forthcoming National Planning Statement.

Threshold was founded in 1978 and operates national and regional offices across Ireland, including in Cork. Further information is available at www.threshold.ie.