Sentiment among prospective homebuyers appears to be holding up in the face of the pandemic, research by MyHome.ie suggests.

The consumer sentiment survey of more than 2,700 prospective homebuyers by the property website, which is owned by The Irish Times, showed that 71% plan on forging ahead with a purchase of a property over the next year, despite the ongoing economic impact from coronavirus. This compares with 68% when the question was asked as part of a survey in May.

Prospective homebuyers are also increasingly less expectant that house prices will fall significantly over the next year due to the virus. Just 13% of those surveyed by MyHome expect prices to fall by more than 10% over the year, which is barely a third of the 37% cohort who expected such price falls in the May survey. About 40% of prospective homebuyers expect price falls of less than 10%, compared to 45% in May.

Angela Keegan, managing director at MyHome.ie, said: “Many prospective buyers have not been hit by the economic fallout from Covid-19. Even though consumers have not seen the price drops that many predicted when Covid-19 emerged, demand has stayed strong throughout Q2 and Q3.”