According to the latest quarterly report from Citylets, the rate of annual rental growth however continues to ease within major cities, now settled at single digits.

Thomas Ashdown, Citylets managing director, said: “It is unlikely that the authoritative and independent economic findings on rent controls across nations has been overlooked by the administration which begs the question as to why there has been no clear response. Perhaps vote winning soundbite politics is deemed paramount with ‘rent control’ such an obvious winner but what is the point of retaining power if it comes at a cost to those it purports to serve.

“We have a housing emergency. There is an absolute duty to the people of Scotland that good intentions do not make things worse. To that end there must be clear, immediate open engagement with the facts from independent industry experts.”

Census figures indicate a rise over the past decade but mask a clear slowdown in growth followed by stasis before stating to fall from peak PRS in 2022.

Gillian Semmler, PR manager at Citylets, said: “Census figures were widely reported in recent days, however, the real story is the stasis and then decline of the market size in recent years as indicated by the Scottish Household Survey which is compiled every year, albeit with some interruptions over the pandemic period.”