Rents and house prices rising in Ireland’s top gay neighbourhoods, research finds
Paraphernalia for sale at Pride in Dublin (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Getty Images)
New research has revealed rents and house prices are rising faster in Ireland’s top ten gay neighbourhoods than anywhere else in the country.
The data, published by the property website Daft.ie, showed the top ten areas with the largest number of same-sex couples, all of which were in Dublin.
It revealed rents in Dublin’s most gay-friendly areas are now seven per cent higher than neighbouring areas in the city, which works out at around 150 euros per month.
The research, carried out by Ronan Lyons, an assistant professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin, found the number of same-sex relationships in these areas rise from 5.6 per cent in 2011 to eight per cent in 2016.
The area of Stoneybatter in Dublin is the largest gay neighbourhood in Ireland, with nearly one in ten couples in a same-sex relationship.
Lyons said the “strong level of demand” in these neighbourhoods is causing sale and rental prices to rise.
People take part in the annual LGBT Pride Parade in Dublin in 2015 (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Getty Images)
In the last five years alone, house prices have risen by 72 per cent in these areas.
The data showed prices in other neighbouring areas had only risen by 60 per cent.
Martin Clancy, a representative of Daft.ie, said: “As we approach Dublin’s pride weekend, this data serves both as a celebration and barometer of social change in Ireland over the last number of years.
“Similar research has been carried out in the United States, but for Ireland, this is a first and something which is both interesting and informative about the evolution of Dublin’s neighbourhood’s and the clear emergence of pride-filled places in the capital.”
This week, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar spoke out in support of LGBT equality in Northern Ireland at a state reception marking 25 years since homosexuality was decriminalised in the country.
Ireland’s leader Leo Varadkar spoke in favour of LGBT rights in neighbouring Northern Ireland (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty)
Varadkar, the Ireland’s first openly gay leader, spoke out about equality for LGBT people in neighbouring Northern Ireland.
“In the United Nations and around the world, I as Taoiseach and Ministers will speak up for LGBT civil rights in other countries, countries that still criminalise or discriminate, whether it’s central or eastern Europe, whether it’s in the Arab world, or whether it’s not too far away in Northern Ireland,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster made history on Thursday night by attending PinkNews’ summer reception at Stormont in Belfast, becoming the first DUP leader to attend an LGBT rights event.
“I want to acknowledge the contribution of the LGBT+ community in Northern Ireland and recognise the diversity [in the country] … some of the brightest and best are part of the LGBT+ community,” she said.
“We are not always going to agree. We should treat each other with good manners and respect.”
