Nothing like a deadline to concentrate the mind. The findings of the latest myhome.iesurvey would indicate a frenzy of first-time buyer activity on the horizon in advance of the December deadline bringing an end to mortgage interest relief.

The survey indicates that 43 per cent of those planning to buy in the next year said they intend to do so in the next three months (63 per cent of first-time buyers surveyed said they intend to buy in the next 12 months).

That’s all very well, but the reality is that many of these potential buyers will miss the tax relief deadline if they are only embarking on the house-buying process now. It takes time to find a home and seal the deal, financing needs to be arranged – and we know how difficult that can be – and then there’s the paperwork and legal issues.

Taking into account that the tax relief measures could be worth up to €27,500 to a couple buying their first home, and faced with the spectre of the new property tax from next year, the case for extending the deadline to accommodate this small flurry of activity in an otherwise moribund market would seem compelling.

Obviously the majority of those surveyed (88 per cent) said they want the deadline extended, but whether the Minister for Finance is listening is another matter entirely.