Average rents increased nationally by 2.2 per cent in 2012 – the first year to see an annual rise in rents since 2007 – as the three big cities pulled ahead of the rest of the country, the latest Daft.ierental report shows.

The inflation was driven by higher rents in Dublin, Cork and Galway, with rents outside of the cities declining 1.1 per cent last year.

Dublin rents showed the steepest rate of increase, ending the year 4.9 per cent higher than a year earlier at an average of €1,089 , Daft.iefound.

In Dublin city centre, rents climbed even higher, advancing 6.4 per cent in 2012.

Cork rents rose 1.8 per cent to an average of €797, while average Galway rents are up 2.3 per cent at €780.

Based on properties advertised to let on Daft.ie, the number of properties available to rent nationwide is at its lowest since mid-2008, standing at 12,000 as of February 1st.

The average rent nationwide in the final quarter of last year was €808, up from €790 in the same period in 2011.

The lettings website’s report confirms a strengthening of the urban-rural divide in Ireland’s rental market, in which cities have increased their relative appeal to tenants.

"One remarkable feature of Ireland's bubble was the ability for people to get jobs pretty much anywhere – you could live in a small town and not worry about work," said Daft.ieeconomist Ronan Lyons.

“Since the crash, though, it is apparent that Ireland can no longer defy what is the modern economic equivalent of the law of gravity: the pull of cities,” he wrote in an article accompanying the report.

As of February 1st, there were 2,100 properties available to rent in the capital on Daft.ie. In the middle of 2009, there were almost four times this number, Mr Lyons said.

Landlords in Limerick and Waterford did not enjoy the same upward market momentum as their counterparts in the bigger cities, with rents falling by 1.1 per cent in Limerick city to an average of €638 and by 2.8 per cent in Waterford to €597.