Latest mortgage figures from BPFI show almost €1.5bn in mortgage approvals in November 2022 alone.
Almost 55,000 mortgages to the value of €14.9bn approved in the year to November 2022, the highest level since the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) began gathering the data in 2011.
This is understood to have been largely driven by growth in switching activity.
“While first-time buyers remain the largest segment in the mortgage market with approvals valued at some €7.1bn in the year to November, increased switching activity is largely driving the rate of growth”
A total of 5,433 mortgages were approved in November 2022 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 2,533 mortgages (46.6% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 1,148 (21.1%).
The itch to switch
The number of mortgages approved rose by 1.6% month-on-month and by 9.6% compared with the same period last year.
Mortgages approved in November 2022 were valued at almost €1.5bn – of which FTBs accounted for €699m (46.6%) and mover purchasers for €359m (24%).
The value of mortgage approvals rose by 2.5% month-on-month and by 16.8% year-on-year.
Non-purchase mortgage activity, which includes switching and top-ups, grew by 64.4% year on year in volume terms to 1,647 and by 93.3% year on year to €425m.
“Our latest mortgage figures show that in November 2022 approvals activity increased both in value and volume terms, however it should be noted that much of this was driven by switching,” said BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes.
“When we look at the year-to-date figures, there were almost 55,000 mortgage approvals (54,461) in the year to November 2022, valued at almost €14.9bn (14,856m). These are the highest levels since our data series began in 2011 and up from 49,479 mortgages valued at €12.4bn in the same period of 2021.
“While first-time buyers remain the largest segment in the mortgage market with approvals valued at some €7.1bn in the year to November, increased switching activity is largely driving the rate of growth, with volumes up by 73% year-on-year to more than 16,000, as customers continue to seek out new deals to minimise the impact of ECB interest rate decisions.”
“We expect to see the healthy pipeline in approvals reflected in strong drawdown figures, especially in value terms, in Q4 2022.”
