The investment market in Ireland has also been very strong with more than a quarter of all purchases now being made by investors.

However, Mr Mark FitzGerald managing director of Sherry FitzGerald, warns that the influx of investors is displacing first-time buyers from the market.

"We have to find ways to encourage investors into something other than property," he says.

According to Mr FitzGerald, most investors have good asset bases in terms of other property ownership and are lowly geared, borrowing a smaller proportion of the price of the property. This means they can afford to take a longer-term view and pay more than owner occupiers, he says.

Changes in the recent budget, particularly the cut in capital gains tax, will also encourage more investors into the market, he believes.

Mr Wyndham Williams, managing director of AIB Mortgages , says many investors are attracted to property because of the low rates on deposit accounts and the feeling that they have missed the big heave in the stockmarkets.

He adds that the typical investor is in their 50s with children who have left home.

Other demand in the investment area is coming from foreign buyers who tend to buy large detached homes to rent to the corporate or embassy market. The depreciation of the pound against sterling has also attracted many British investors here, according to Mr Joe McPeake of McPeake Auctioneers.