No South Westmeath homes to rent for less than €1,800 on Daft.ie

The least expensive home to rent in South Westmeath on the popular property website Daft.ie is a two-bedroom house in Athlone currently being advertised for €1,800 a month.

With record numbers nationally living in emergency accommodation, just ten homes in all of Westmeath were being advertised on the site at the time of writing.

Rory Hearne, a Maynooth University lecturer and author of the book Gaffs: Why No One Can Get A House recently tweeted an ad for a two-bedroom home in Court Devenish, Athlone, that was being advertised for €2,000 a month.

Mr Hearne said such a high price being advertised in a regional town was a sign of a 'social catastrophe'.

The property in question is now being advertised for €1,800 a month, and it's the lowest-priced of the four homes currently being advertised for rental in the Athlone area.

The others are a two bedroom apartment in Elworth Court in the town, listed for €2,000 a month, and three-bedroom houses in Baylin and Arcadia which are each being advertised for €2,500 a month.

There are no properties currently being advertised for rental on Daft.ie in Moate or other parts of South Westmeath.

In South Roscommon, two properties are being advertised in Monksfield, Monksland, along with one in Bealnamulla and one in Brideswell.

The advertised prices of these four South Roscommon properties range from €1,150 a month to €1,500 a month.

* For more on the housing crisis facing both students and locals, see tomorrow's Westmeath Independent