East, west, northside and south: "I've looked everywhere and there's a lack of houses I would want to buy, even though it's a buyers' market," says Peter McKeever, who is marrying his fiancée in October and is searching for the home of their dreams for up to €750,000.

"We want two to three bedrooms, around 1,450sq ft. A good garden is a major point as I spend a lot of time outside when not working.

"I won't be selling my current property and my fiancée is a first-time buyer, so we're cash buyers.

"Stamp duty has lowered and we could raise the budget a bit. Prices haven't dropped a huge amount and most houses I have seen were probate sales and rundown. Places needing work aren't appealing.

"We work in the docklands and our initial aim was to find something on the Dart line or walking distance to work.

"We have viewed four or five houses every Saturday for the past four or five months, but none was really special.

"Yes, it's a buyers' market, but the number of houses on the market is not huge. We saw a four-bedroom house in Terenure/Kimmage last week which had had zero realistic bids and we may go for it, though we don't want Terenure or Rathmines because of the traffic bottleneck on the way into town.

"Buyers feel they should be able to negotiate better. When houses come up that we like, a lot of people swamp on it and it makes over the asking price.

"One house Gunne had in Killester we really loved. We watched identical couples coming in the door every week and it went in the end for well over the asking price.

"We are probably a bit fussy because of the market, but we hope to live there for a good while and it has to tick most of the boxes.

"We're willing to wait a bit longer, as prices could drop more."