Rents nationally rose at an annual rate of just over 10% in the last three months of last year, according to listed rent prices compiled by the property website Daft.ie.
On a quarterly basis, rents rose in the Dublin area by just over 4% compared to just 0.5% in Munster.
This is a reversal of a trend from earlier last year, which saw rents rising fastest outside the capital.
The report also notes that adverts for rental properties fell to just 712 properties available for rent in Dublin on the first of this month, compared to 820 at the end of November.
This is down 73% on the same number available in February last year.
The number of properties available to rent remains at record lows for the series, which goes back to 2006.
The corresponding figure for the rest of the country rose from an all-time low of 640 in November to 685 in February.
The report also maintains that from 63 ‘identifiable Private Rental Sector complexes’ comprising almost 7,800 homes, approximately 90% are occupied.
It says this counters claims that occupancy rates are low in some luxury apartment developments.
The report’s author, TCD Associate Professor Ronan Lyons, said this shows new rental homes coming on the market “are not homes that will be left empty, they are homes that will be used”.
The average monthly rents across Dublin vary from €1,996, up 7.2% on an annual basis, in the city centre to €1,897, up 13.9% annually in the north of the country.
Cork city rents rose by 6.3% on an annual basis to €1,539 per month.
Other parts of the country have seen double-digit increases in rents over the past year. In Mayo, average rents have increased by 20.1% to €915 per month.
Rents in Wexford have increased by 15.7% to €1,050.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office showed private rents increasing at an annual rate of 8.4% in December.