Have pity on poor estate agents. With an estimated 20 per cent more houses on the market compared with this time last year and approximately 30 per cent more buyers shopping for homes there are few opportunities to crack open an Easter egg early, says Mark Grehan, managing director of Sherry FitzGerald.

“Traditionally, people hold off looking at houses during the Easter holidays and while some of our sellers may be going away, their homes are not joining them on vacation so it is business as usual this Easter Saturday with many of our properties on open view on April 19th.”

Not that this extra 20 per cent of houses is enough to make up for the shortage of properties coming on the market, particularly in Dublin, which is pushing prices up.

The house-buying seasons are not as defined as they once were. Historically, sellers launched their properties after Easter or in September, says Mark Doherty, director at DNG. In contrast, most of their branches are only doing viewings by appointment this Saturday.

“We’ve blocked out open viewings for Holy Thursday to facilitate quite a few of our clients who are going away for the break,”he says.

At SherryFitzGerald Saturday is a working day like any other, Grehan says. “Easter Sunday is the holiday.”