Sarah Brophy, Trevor Gyves, Neil Brady and Emma Brownediscuss how difficult it is to buy a home in the current climate

'I moved into our basement flat - and it's worked out brilliantly'

SARAH BROPHYis a 26-year-old architect. She rented in Dublin city centre for over two years and recently moved into the basement flat of her parents home in Blackrock.

"I didn't like the idea at first, having lived away from home, but it's worked out brilliantly. I'm lucky though, as I get on very well with my family and after all my fears, I'm the one who pops up to see them!

"After seven years in college, I only started working at 25; by that age some people would have been working for years. The Irish are obsessed with property, we talk about it all the time. Until my salary increases, I have no hope of saving for a place of my own.

"I will have to make sacrifices in order to live where I want to live. And at our age, we should probably be starting to think about having kids fairly shortly, but it just isn't on the radar for the majority of us.

"You need two good salaries to even consider a mortgage. You recognise it's a problem, you could live, could survive, but you don't want your child to have to live like that."

'We're living with wife's parents and renovating the cottage'

TREVOR GYVESis 30 and works as an electronic controller and musician. He is married to Fiona, who works in banking. Having rented in Rathmines, they are now living with Fiona's parents while they renovate the cottage on a half an acre of his parents' land in Co Kildare where Trevor's grandmother was born in 1911.

"We're lucky that we have the cottage. A lot of our friends would love to have the same opportunity. With both our salaries and the security of owning the site, we got a mortgage to renovate and extend. There is no way that we would have been able to buy anything other than something very basic on the extreme outskirts of Dublin city for the same money.

"Most of my friends who came from the Blessington area are gradually moving back towards home. Maybe some people come home to roost. It happens in your late twenties or early thirties. The cottage is five miles from my parents, 10 miles from Fiona's, but that's country miles - just a few minutes drive."

'You naively thought it would just happen'

EMMA BROWNEis 26, has a degree in English, works part time as a journalist and has returned to college to study law. She has been living in rented accomodation for the last three years and is currently living in a flat in Monkstown, Co Dublin with her boyfriend, a teacher.

"We would love to be able to buy, but can't afford it. We qualified for a mortgage, the bank even did a stress test, but we know we couldn't afford to repay it. And if interest rates went up, we'd be under terrible pressure. By renting we can live in an area we want, near our friends and family, and enjoy a lot more space for a lot less money than if we bought - but it's money down the drain. I've always wanted to have children, so putting it off because I can't afford property is bizarre. You naively thought it would just happen, get your degree, get a job, rent a place, then buy a house and have a family. It just doesn't seem to happen like that any more in modern Ireland.

"It worries me sometimes, and I will try not to leave it too late, but I would be thinking about it at 29 or 30 as I wouldn't want to risk it not happening. It could be eight or 10 years before I am in a position to take time off work for children, and it's not a career issue, it's a financial issue.

"And if I did have a child, where would I send it to school? I wouldn't know where I might be living. It's all a bit unsettling."

'My parents suggested I move into mews'

NEIL BRADYis 26 and has an undergraduate degree in History and Politics from UCD, and a Masters in politics. He has worked both in Dublin and in New York but has returned to study law. He recently moved into the mews of his parents home in Monkstown.

"My parents said that they would help support me if I wanted to go back to college. At my age they felt I needed a modicum of independence. The mews was suggested and I am very happy with it, and indeed very lucky to have it. I do feel a bit guilty that I am still around for them to have to deal with, but we get on very well.

"I spent a year in New York, living in my own apartment; it was tiny, but it was mine. Returning to college now means that I will be nearly 30 by the time I am finished. I would hope to go abroad again for a year or two to further a career in human rights. I can't see myself buying anywhere until I'm about 35, in a relationship and thinking about settling down."