The latest Daft.ie report details a biggest quarterly increase since records began.
Rents rose in tandem with the government's rental reforms.
The Daft.ie research shows the national average rent rose by 4.4% from December to March this year, the sharpest increase it has ever recorded.
The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Midlands is over €1,400 a month, up 3.3% in the last 12 months.
They're up 6.4% in Westmeath, 4.9% in Offaly, while Laois saw a decrease of 1.3%.
Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and author of the report, Ronan Lyons says new rental control rules, which came into effect on the 1st of March, are likely to have driven the increase:
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