The head of the Union of Students of Ireland has warned that the sharp increase in rental costs could push students away from third level institutions.

Responding to this week's Daft.ie quarterly rental report which showed that rents are rising at a faster rate than at any time since the crash USI president Kevin Donoghue said students leaving home for the first time could be adversly affected  by the Government's rent control package.

"This spike in rental costs could make accommodation unaffordable to students and could push them out of the private rental sector and away from third level institutions,” Mr Donoghue said.

Acknowledging that the two-year rent freeze will benefit students who remain in the same accommodation for two years, Mr Donoghue warned students moving out of their family homes or changing accommodation might have to pay increased rents.

“While the two year rent freeze reform from the Government will provide rent certainty for both tenants and landlords, and this scheme could benefit students because they will be less likely to move into a place and then be forced to move or fork out more rent; it is not as beneficial for students moving out of their family homes as they will still be hit with increases.

"It’s also unfortunate that the rent freeze has come in at a time where the cost of rental accommodation is this high – it’s the largest three-month jump in rent since 2007 at a national average of 3.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2015,” he said.

According to the report, the national average rent between July and September was €964, compared to €882 a year previously, equating to an inflation rate of 9.3 per cent.

The largest rent hikes are in the cities outside Dublin, with Cork recording a 13.5 per cent increase and Galway city recording an increase of just over 12 per cent.