The associate director of Sherry FitzGerald, Barry Finnegan, says apartment rents in Dublin are up 10% on this time last year, such is the demand. An increasing number of students living outside the home, the continuing influx of foreign workers and young people being priced out of buying property and forced into renting have contributed to what he described as "a clamour for apartments."

"Anything we have is walking out the door, " he said. "We just can't keep one or two-bedroom apartments that are of a decent quality."

Another big factor in the rental property shortage is the amount of apartments that are lying vacant around the city. Overall, 13.5% of housing in Ireland is uninhabited. "There are apartments that investors buy and keep vacant, " said Finnegan. "They figure that by the time they fit them out and deal with the hassle of tenants and wearand-tear, it's just not worth it because they're only going to sell it on in a few years anyway, so they just leave them empty. I definitely see a lot of that happening."

On a bitterly cold evening last week, seven eager apartment hunters gathered at a new complex in Santry to view a twobedroom apartment at the relatively reasonable rent of 1,200 a month. Most of the viewers had been searching for somewhere to live for two to three weeks. "I suppose it is hard, but it depends on your standards, " said one of those viewing.

"You could get a place out in Tallaght or Lucan, or most places in west Dublin, in a couple of hours. But in an area closer to the city or in a nice complex, you're going to have to adjust your budget. It's a trade-off."

The Sunday Tribune spoke to a number of other tenants who have been apartment hunting over the last month. One, Sinead, had been looking for a room in Dublin for three weeks and her story is typical. "I was searching in about 10 or 12 areas, and a good few properties daily would come up on Daft. ie, but there would be up to 50 people looking at one place, so it was just really hard, " she said. "You'd go into a house to look at a room and there would be 15 people in there at the same time as you. In that situation, it's hard to make any impression. It's like a really tough interview process . . . it's harder than getting a job."

Killian had spent five weeks looking for a one-bedroom apartment in Dublin with a budget of around 1,000. One viewing on Adelaide Road in Dublin 4 drew around 150 people in a two-hour-long queue. "I went to another one on Buckingham Street to see a one-bedroom apartment in a new development. We were basically shown around a building site with a couple of finished apartments and builders working around us, " he said. "Agents at the viewings would say 'you have to give me 500 now' for the holding deposit. A lot of people would be quick off the mark and literally walk in the door and take 500 out of their pocket, saying that they'd take the place without even seeing it properly."

After three weeks of searching, Killian finally secured an apartment in Temple Bar and paid the letting agent a holding fee, only to learn a week later that the landlord had decided to sell the property. "I had a receipt for the fee, but nothing from the agent or landlord to say the property was mine . . . there's very little security in that."

Two weeks later, he finally found another apartment in Dublin 2 and is moving in this weekend. "The 'renters' market' thing is an absolute myth, " he said. "The people who are saying that are people who aren't renting. . . I was seeing the same couples at open viewings a month after I'd seen them at another one . . . these people just couldn't find anywhere to live."

One letting agent, who did not want to be identified, confirmed the shortage of accommodation. "For certain properties . . . for city centre apartments . . . the demand is unreal.

I had 75 people look at a one-bedroom apartment, and it was nothing special."

Joan Fogarty, manager of the residential letting department at Lisney, echoed the concerns of Sherry FitzGerald's Barry Finnegan. "Rents have definitely gone up, probably about 10%, " she said. "We are certainly short of properties at the moment."

"It's terrible really, " added Finnegan, "and I feel sorry for people all the time who are competing for an apartment and lose out because you know that they're good tenants."