It's the sort of move that makes you think the doomsayers have got it wrong . . . again.

The Central Bank, media pundits and experts from overseas, including the International Monetary Fund and The Economistmagazine, have long preached that Irish residential property is a bubble just waiting to burst.

But if they are right, why would the no-nonsense Yorkshire types at Leeds Building Society be so willing to risk their members' money by lending it to house-buyers in Ireland?

One can only assume they've done their homework and liked what they saw, despite the fact that interest rates here continue to creep upwards and house prices in most cities have been pushed beyond the reach of middle-income earners such as nurses, teachers and gardai.

Other foreign lenders have run the rule over Ireland's housing market and reached similar positive conclusions.

Bank of Scotland has been here the longest and, after a slow start, has expanded its mortgage line up, seemingly oblivious to worries of a house-price crash.

Royal Bank of Scotland was next when it paid 887m for First Active in 2003, transforming it into one of the most aggressive lenders in the market. It shook up the competition last year by bringing 100% mortgages to the mass market and together with Ulster Bank, also owned by RBS, First Active is Ireland's fourth-biggest mortgage lender, snapping at the heels of AIB.

Denmark's Danske Bank is also splashing its cash, spending 1.4bn on National Irish Bank and Belfast-based Northern Bank.

It has yet to make its mark but the early signs are that it will give the competition a run for its money with some of the keenest rates on the mortgage market.

The fact that the foreigners are willing to pay such fancy prices for a piece of the Irish mortgage action must be encouraging.

Unlike the local banks, which have made a Faustian pact that ties their fortunes to the property boom, foreign financial institutions have gone out of their way to be here, often battling niggling doubts in their home countries that Ireland's property boom will end in tears.

However, a closer look at what the Leeds is up to shows that it has given, at best, a qualified vote of confidence in Irish property.

It is playing a cautious game, paying nothing up front to set up shop and cherry-picking the safest borrowers.

Rather than getting in on the ground, the Leeds is teaming up with independent brokers, who only get paid when they sell one of its mortgages.

It has also hit the market with a single product targeted at a specific niche.

According to Liam Ferguson of Ferguson & Associates, a mortgage broker, the Leeds has a good offer if you are borrowing less than 250,000 and the loan amounts to less than 80% of the value of your home.

If you do not fit into this box, however, you would probably get a better mortgage somewhere else.

On the other hand, the Leeds does allow interestonly payments over the entire life of the loan, a feature offered only by Bank of Scotland up to now. It is also courting older borrowers, giving mortgages up to the age of 75.

This approach is reminiscent of the suck-itand-see strategy adopted by Bank of Scotland when it entered the market back in 1999.

Like the Leeds, it initially concentrated on borrowers who already had plenty of equity built up in their homes.

The difference was that, over time, Bank of Scotland has expanded into a full-service lender willing to take on more risky borrowers such as first-time buyers and buyto-let investors.

It will be interesting to see if the Leeds gets comfortable enough in Ireland to follow its example.