A survey of housing sentiment has found that almost a quarter of the country's private tenants are afraid of losing their accommodation.
The survey found that more than 200,000 people want to move out of their current housing arrangements, with most of them hoping to start their own household.
The online survey of a representative sample of 1,000 adults was conducted a month ago by iReach market research for NABCO, the National Association of Building Co-ops.
It found 23% of the private renters who responded feared losing their accommodation, with significantly greater anxiety in Dublin and among low earners generally.
In the last 18 months, four in ten of the capital's tenants have faced rent increases and two out of ten outside Dublin.
Overall, one in five spent more than 40% of net income on rent, a level regarded by most economists as unsustainable.
One in three tenants reported that they have no formal lease, while one in eight respondents in all types of accommodation was trying to move out.
One in 11 wanted to establish their own households and NABCO said 150,000 units are needed.
Nine out of ten rejected the Central Bank's proposal to require home-buyers to pay a 20% deposit.
Meanwhile, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service has urged people on low incomes with little or no assets and qualifying debts of up €20,000 to seek its free advice on applying to the Insolvency Service of Ireland to wipe out their debts.
