A new national index shows that rents nationwide rose by 2% in the first three months of this year compared to the same time last year.
The survey from the Private Residential Tenancy Board is based on the board's own register of over 277,000 tenancies.
It reveals the actual rents being paid for properties as opposed to asking rents which feature in other surveys.
The PRTB said the first quarter of the year saw rents rise by 2.3% in Dublin, while they increased by 0.8% outside of Dublin. Monthly rents averaged €785 in the first quarter of the year.
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Of the nearly 1.65 million households in the country, 475,000 (29%) rent their homes and about 65% of that number are in the private sector.
The PRTB is also making a new database available which provides rent details for five different types of dwellings throughout the country - in both urban and rural areas. People can log on free of charge to check rent levels for different locations and different types of dwellings.
''This index takes the speculation and surmise out of renting,'' commented Ann Marie Caulfield, the Director of the PRTB.
''All our data is based on actual rents being paid for private accommodation right across the country, and this is very valuable information for all stakeholders concerned,'' she added.
The rent index, which was compiled by the ESRI, will be update and published every three months.
It was officially launched by the Minister for Housing and Planning, Jan O'Sullivan, today.
Today's index shows that apartment rents outside Dublin are down 21.3% from their peaks in early 2008, while Dublin apartment rents are 24% down from their peaks.
