Six out of 10 potential house buyers plan to purchase a property within the next two years.
A survey revealed more than 10 per cent of those want to buy a place as soon as possible, with another quarter hoping to find a new home in 12 months.
More than 2,000 people took part in the Daft.ie online consumer attitudes survey.
Buyers believe mortgage availability, the recession and unemployment would be the three main factors affecting house prices in the coming year.
Kieran Harte, marketing director for Daft.ie, said the survey measures consumers’ perceptions of the state of the property market both nationally and locally.
“It also gives us an indication of people’s intention to participate within the property market,” he said.
“We believe these on-going surveys will act as an important indicator for measuring consumer sentiment.”
Almost half of those who took part were aged between 30 and 40 years and 67 per cent were either married or living together.
Over 55 per cent were renting, a quarter lived in their own house with a mortgage, nearly 10 per cent lived with their parents, 7.4 per cent had no mortgage and 0.6 per cent were in social housing.
The majority were living in Dublin south (city and country) and wanted to buy in the same area.
But almost 64 per cent did not believe the drop in current house prices are good value for buyers in their region, and half thought prices will fall by another 5 per cent -15 per cent in the future.
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said the survey was a very positive indication for the Irish housing market, particularly in the urban areas.
Hubert Fitzpatrick, CIF director of development for housing and planning services, said: “It is the first clear indication that more people intend to enter into the housing market over the next couple of years.
“Three out of every five people who responded to the survey said they intend to buy property over the course of the next couple of years.
“Over 37 per cent intend on buying within the next year.
“That is a clear shift in attitude amongst the public to the Irish housing market.”
Mr Fitzpatrick claimed the survey backs the CIF position that the housing market will begin to recover when banks start making credit available to prospective buyers.
“For too long it has been practically impossible for many potential buyers to get a mortgage,” he added.
“However if we want to build on the positive attitude that is highlighted by this survey then we need the banks to open their mortgage business and allow people to buy.”
PA