B is for bargains At the start of 2006 snapping up a property for the asking price was unheard of. Fast forward 12 months and rising interest rates, hesitation over stamp duty and high withdrawals at auction transformed a sellers' market into a buyers' one with vendors reducing the sale of their properties by as much as 100,000.

C is for country homes While Dublin homes failed to get nailed at auction and private treaty the country market boomed with houses selling for more and in quick time.

D is for daft. ie Ireland's largest property website is officially the busiest in the country, beating Eircom, RTE and rival myhome. ie for the top spot.

E is for energy performance of buildings directive A new scheme for assessing and rating the energy efficiency of domestic property was announced this year. From January 2007 all new homes built will have a building energy rating (BER). Anyone selling or renting their house will also have to have a BER.

F is for first-time buyers While some held off buying until after the budget others were snapping up new homes in their thousands and accounted for over 50% of sales in some developments.

G is for Gavin, Diarmuid He may have been snubbed earlier in the year by the Chelsea Flower Show but he was a firm favourite with RTE viewers who tuned in by the barrow-load to watch his I Want a Garden series.

H is for Hamilton Osborne King Ireland's leading property adviser hit the headlines in June when it was sold to Savills for 50m.

I is for interest rates We've had five hikes this year (with one more expected early 2007) bringing interest rates up to 3.5%.

J is for June The month that cracks started to appear in the property market. Overvalued homes in the capital failed to attract the same interest as at the start of the year.

K is for K Club Home to the Ryder Cup for one weekend in September.

The event may have been a boon for Irish tourism but it wreaked havoc with a property market on the brink of a slowdown.

L is for London Haggerston and Hoxton may sound like madcap destinations in a Harry Potter novel, but in the real world of London's booming house market, they have every chance of becoming new-fangled Notting Hills for Irish investors.

M is for Montenegro Having gained independence from Serbia, the new nation quickly became this year's hotspot for Irish buyers.

N is for neighbourcate selling A new way of selling ones home was born this year in Dublin with neighbours clubbing together in Cabinteely and Meakstown to sell entire streets and culde-sacs of houses for a larger slice of the property pie.

O is for Olympic ice rink Ice skating is not just for Christmas, it's set to become a year-round event at the new 7m Dundalk Ice Dome, home of the Republic's first Olympic-size ice rink.

P is for Pavilions Shopping Centre Swords The sale of the shopping centre for 575m to Joe O'Reilly hit the headlines for being the largest single transaction in the history of the state and even bagged the title of Ireland's Property Deal of the Year at the recent 2006 Property Awards.

Q is for queues At the start of the year, buyers queued in their hundreds two days before the launch of Adamstown.

However, in recent weeks it was the lack of queues that was more noticeable at Ellier's Dalriada.

R is for renters This year, more of us than ever are renting (250,000 in Dublin alone) and longterm, thanks to soaring property prices and interest rate hikes.

S is for stamp duty Loose lips sink ships and Minister McDowell's comments back in September about possible changes in stamp duty in the budget certainly helped sink the good ship 'property market' with agents trying to plug the leaks with reduced prices.

T is for tax incentive schemes The end is nigh for the schemes that were set up to renew urban and rural areas and stimulate economic growth. But did they just mainly benefit developers and high net worth individuals?

U is for U2 tower The controversial twisting glass tower got a touch of vertigo earlier in the autumn when it went for planning at 130 metres . . .

substantially higher than expected.

V is for Voderman, Carol The number-crunching presenter of Countdown got her sums and timing right when she put her Cork bolthole up for sale in June this year. Vorderman who bought Bar na Don, a waterfront retreat on Glandore harbour in 2003 for little over 1.5m, is believed to have made a cool 1m profit.

W is for withdrawls A blossoming spring in the auction rooms was followed by an autumn fall and unprecedented numbers of withdrawls.

X is for x-rated properties As in Stringfellows. The grey-haired pony-tailed one's attempts to bring showgirls and showtime to the Northside lasted just over five months.

Y is for Yonder The four-bed 1920s house on half an acre in Dalkey became the surprise hit of the summer when it sold for well over its AMV of 1.6m for 4.050m.

Z is for zzzzzzz Buyers will certainly need to be catching some over the holidays if the property season goes off with a bang in January.