Kildare recorded the highest increase in average monthly rents for apartments in the 15 months to the end of last September, according to an analysis of residential data by Dublin-based First Citizen Asset Management.

Apartment rents in Kildare rose by 10.19 per cent to €753.38 a month, putting it ahead of Dublin, where the increase was 9.68 per cent, to €1,091.16. Leitrim, which has the smallest population of any county in Ireland, recorded the fifth-highest percentage increase in average rents for apartments, at 6.6 per cent to €371.29.

Apartment rents fell in five counties during the period – Cavan, Donegal, Roscommon, Waterford and Westmeath. Across all property types, rents rose on average by 1.95 per cent over the 15 months. The increase was 7.02 per cent in Dublin and 1.75 per cent for the rest of the State.

For the third quarter of last year, Dublin recorded the strongest percentage growth at 7.84 per cent, followed by Kildare and Wicklow.

Rents fell in nine of the 26 counties in the three months to the end of September 2014, with the biggest percentage decline in Cavan, where average rents fell by 1 per cent to €437.34.

The most expensive rental locations in the third quarter were Dublin 4 and Dublin 9. Paula ter Brake, chief executive of First Citizen, said this could have been driven by demand from students seeking accommodation for UCD and Dublin City University.

“Estate agents told us that they couldn’t satisfy demand and it would have driven up prices in those locations,” she said.

First Citizen analysed data from the Private Residential Tenancies Board from July 2013 to September of the following year.