Almost one-in-five first-time buyers who purchased in the first half of the year were born outside the State, according to a report by the Irish Mortgage Corporation.
The report reveals found that Asians are the biggest foreign property buyers, accounting for 34.5 per cent, followed closely by residents from the United Kingdom on 28 per cent.
Frank Conway, director with Irish Mortgage Corporation
EU nationals, particularly immigrants from Eastern Europe, including Poland, continue to purchase at marginal rates.
Overall, 82.9 per cent of Irish are buying up new homes.
Around 420,000 non-Irish nationals have now made Ireland their home. The Irish Mortgage Corporation predicts that by the end of the decade, up to 25 per cent of first time buyers could be made up of foreign nationals.
Recent CSO figures show some 146,287 non-Irish people have a home, but only 47,000 are owner occupiers.
"There is an unmistakable trend that foreign nationals are increasing their share of the first time buyer market in Ireland," said Frank Conway, director with Irish Mortgage Corporation.
"Among Asians there continues to be a specific concentration of buyers from the Philippines and India. . . . However, Irish people are still the largest group in the first-time buyer category by a ratio of almost four-to-one."