The average rent in Dublin at the end of 2019 was up by 5 per cent, or €82, on the same period in 2018

Average Irish rents rose to more than €1,200 per month at the end of last year but the regulator said that this reflected a “very different world”.

The national standardised average rent was €1,226 per month in the final three months of 2019. While this was an increase of 6.4 per cent compared with the same period in 2018, it was the slowest annual rate of growth since the start of 2014.

Owing to continued rises the areas of Mallow in Cork, Killarney in Kerry, Athy in Kildare, Tullamore in Offaly and Mullingar in Westmeath have been designated as rent pressure zones (RPZs). This means that landlords in these areas are not allowed to increase rent prices by more than 4 per cent in a