The Central Bank has announced no major changes to the core elements of its mortgage lending rules.
The loan-to-income and loan-to-value limits will remain the same next year.
However, the Central Bank says it will introduce separate loan-to-income allowances for first-time and second-time buyers to improve the simplicity and effectiveness of the measures.
First-time buyer Elaine has just been granted mortgage approval, but she says it is only the first hurdle.
"There are some areas maybe that we would have rented in, like Harold's Cross or whatever - but we would not be able to afford to buy those houses, and we can't afford to buy a new house," she said.
"I've seen a house recently that went up, and it was within our price range, and I'm looking through the photos and thinking 'that's grand, that's fine', and then the next photograph there was a hole in the ceiling from the first floor down to the ground floor."