At least some of the people who moved out of share houses to live with their partner would have done so in a newly purchased home. Rents have been growing slowly for some time. This is not that surprising given that yields on other assets are also generally quite low (Graph 12).
It is relevant to note that the spread on ten year Irish Government Securities above Bunds immediately after the end-March 2010 PCAR announcement, that made it clear (to any that still doubted it) that extremely large banking losses would be incurred by the banks in the NAMA purchases, was only about 125 basis points.