The Irish property website MyHome.ie has said that the number of second hand properties that were "sale agreed" has significantly increased.
 
The website has seen a small increase in property sales since September of last year.
 
MyHome.ie's managing director Angela Keegan said that there was 658 "sale agreed" properties for the month of January 2010, compared to 200 agreed sales in January 2009.
 
MyHome.ie also said there was a marked increase in sales throughout Leinster.
 
Keegan said that the "sales agreed" may not fully materialize into a property sale, but estate agents were insisting on proof of mortgage approvals before properties were "sales agreed."
 
It also said that visitors to their site rose by 20 percent in January to nearly 40 million views. There was also a 50 percent increase in enquiries to estate agents.
 
"It’s encouraging that we’re seeing consistently higher levels of activity on our website, as we believe it’s an indication of a pick up in second hand house market throughout the country, and we’re hopeful that this trend will continue," said Keegan.
 
The Irish Banking Federation said that mortgage lending fell by 50 percent last year, and over 46,000 mortgages worth $11 billion were issued to lenders.
 
The number of mortgages issued in 2009 declined by almost 60 percent compared to 2008 figures.