Designer suit, Mercedes and mobile phone - it must be an estate agent. The booming property market is doing wonders for job prospects - and commission - for auctioneers and estate agents.

Prospective estate agents can choose from a variety of courses at Post Leaving Cert and third level. Galway-Mayo IT offers a three-year diploma course, which includes a one-month work placement in second year. Course director Barry Gantly says that many students are not fully tuned in to what the job actually entails. Those with a family background or work experience are at an advantage here. While places are awarded purely on the basis of points, an ability to express yourself in writing, an analytical mind and a grasp of maths would help, says Gantly.

Career prospects are very good, he says, but the diploma is only the entry ticket in the door. "The students who are focused and know about the industry will succeed," he adds. In recent years up to 40 per cent of diploma graduates have gone on to further study. DIT offers a diploma in auctioneering valuation and estate agency and a degree in surveying (property economics). Tom Dunne, head of the college's department of surveying and building technology, says there is a difference in levels between degree and diploma and this is reflected in the points (395 versus 360). Diploma graduates can transfer into the third year of the property economic degree or they may go to colleges in Britain to top up to degree level. Typically, students go to colleges such as Oxford Brookes, Newcastle and Northumbria, where they are offered places in the final year of degree programmes.

There is also a difference in orientation between the two programmes. The auctioneering diploma is more marketing and business oriented while the degree emphasises investment, urban economics and planning. Graduates of the degree programme may proceed to postgraduate study in areas such as town planning and business studies.

Dunne says the boom-bust cycle which has characterised Ireland's property industry may have come to an end. "We should be able to sustain a reasonable level of growth," he says.

The requirement for skills in the property area grows at a faster rate than the economy, he adds. In the past, the local auctioneer was often the publican, undertaker and insurance agent also. Today, most small towns have an auctioneering specialist. Increasing urbanism also brings with it the need for more sophisticated urban economics.

Limerick IT offers a four-year degree in chartered surveying (property valuation and management). Course co-ordinator Declan Redmond notes that the property boom has translated into increasing applications for relevant courses.

The course in Limerick IT has a sandwich-type structure where students spend third year in work placement. "We notice that students are much more self-confident when they come back after a year's work," he says. They also see the practical application of subjects they would have regarded as theoretical.

The degree is awarded by Herriot Watt university in Edinburgh, a major Scottish university with a good reputation in property economics, says Redmond.

The career focus on law inadvertantly omitted UCC's new law and Irish course (course code CK304).