Around one in every six people here is currently in the market to buy a home, research by Permanent TSB suggests.
57% of those are first time buyers, 22% are trading up, 13% are trading down and 4% said they wished to buy a property to put it on the rental market.
Half of all respondents to the survey said they didn't own a home.
Of those, two thirds said they believed the prospect of owning a home had become less achievable in recent years.
For over half - 55% - the main barrier is financial. That proportion rises to 76% among 25 to 34-year-olds.
Financial barriers include struggling to save a deposit, not being able to find a suitable property within budget and concerns around the financial risk of making a house purchase.
The research also confirms that there remains little appeal for long-term renting.
Just over 40% say they would "never" consider long-term rental.
Energy efficiency has become a more important consideration in recent years, with 2 in 5 contributors saying that they would be more likely to purchase an energy efficient home.
30% were more likely to consider retrofitting.
In other areas, the study pointed to an increase of in the proportion of individuals who believed the economic situation would improve over the coming year.
17% of individuals responded positively compared to 11% in November of last year.
However, around half of respondents indicated that they felt the economic situation would deteriorate over the coming 12 months.
That was down from 63% who said the same in November.
"There is a subtle but significant shift in opinion from November which suggests that more people think the worst of the Cost-of-Living crisis is behind us," Leontia Fannin, Head of Corporate Affairs with Permanent TSB said.
"It will be interesting to see whether that more optimistic mood continues or is paused in the coming months," she added.
