"I've been actively house-hunting for six months now, and what I find most remarkable is the fact that since the beginning of this year, a lot of new schemes that are launched have queues forming a day or two before they open.

The biggest queues I've seen were for Hazelhatch, a new housing development in Celbridge, where the queues started on Thursday morning, even though the houses weren't being launched until Saturday afternoon.

People slept in their cars from Thursday to Saturday. And the people who got the houses were the ones who were there from early Thursday, " explains Kelly who was just one of the disappointed buyers who joined the queue a bit later. One of her colleagues also queued but was also disappointed.

"It makes buying a home even more difficult because it means planning a couple of days off work when you know a new scheme is launching, " says Kelly, who is looking for either a two-bed apartment or townhouse within reasonable commuting distance of her job in Leixlip.

"It's really shocking when you arrive at a new development and see all the people wanting to buy homes."