Property rents are on average 9 per cent higher that they were this time last year, according to Daft.ie

Dublin City centre saw the biggest annual increase in rent of 14 per cent, the property website said.

Its latest quarterly report indicated there were 10,000 rental properties advertised in Dublin in the first four months of this year, compared with 18,000 in the same four-month period in 2012.

The lack of rental accommodation in the capital has seen rents increase by 22 per cent in three years, it said.

The report said rents rose in all cities, with Cork and Galway experiencing a 6 per cent rise, while Limerick witnessed a 5 per cent rise, and Waterford a 1 per cent shift.

Rents in the capital's commuter belt counties of Wicklow and Kildare rose by 9 per cent.

Outside of the cities, rents rose by an average of 4 per cent , whilst the number of properties available for rent is now under 4,000 - down from 11,000 two years ago.

The average rent here is now €0888, up €69 from the lowest point in 2011.

Economist Ronan Lyons, author of the Daft Report, said: "This latest Daft.ie Report shows that the housing crisis in Dublin is getting worse."

“The solution is not capping rents, which will limit the supply of new homes, but rather addressing the underlying problems, in particular streamlining the cost of land and of regulation.”