Value of mortgages for property purchases increased by 10% year-on-year while growth in switching activity has slowed.
The latest mortgage figures from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) shows there was more than €1bn in mortgage approvals in January 2023.
The value of mortgages for property purchases increased by 10% year-on-year while growth in switching activity has slowed.
“First-time buyers remain the largest segment in the mortgage market, accounting for more than half of the volume and value of approvals”
A total of 3,697 mortgages were approved in January 2023 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 1,890 mortgages (51.1% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 854 (23.1%).
Switching and top-ups slow
The number of mortgages approved rose by 1.7% month-on-month and by 2.1% compared with the same period last year.
Mortgages approved in January were valued at €1,015m – of which FTBs accounted for €520m (51.2%) and mover purchasers for €278m (27.4%).
The value of mortgage approvals rose by 1.9% month-on-month and by 8.9% year-on-year.
Non-purchase mortgage activity, which includes switching and top-ups, grew by 2.1% year on year in volume terms to 877 and by 4.6% year on year to €205m in the same period.
“Our latest mortgage figures show that in January 2023 the value of approvals for property purchase increased by 10% year-on-year to €810m,” said BPFI CEO Brian Hayes.
“First-time buyers remain the largest segment in the mortgage market, accounting for more than half of the volume and value of approvals.
“In total, there were over 58,000 mortgage approvals (58,352) in the twelve months ending January 2023, valued at almost €16bn (€15,935m). This is the highest value of annualised mortgage approvals since our data series began in 2011 compared with €13.6nn in the twelve months ending January 2021.”
“While the volume of non-purchase mortgages (switching and top-ups) rose by 2.1%, the figures indicate a significant slowdown in this segment from previous periods.”
