First-time buyer mortgage approvals hit a record last November, new figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) showed, with the average value approved rising more than 8 per cent.
Around 4,400 mortgages were approved in November with a value of €1.365 billion, the group said.
Of that total, first-time buyers accounted for 2,657, or 60 per cent of the volume, and 62 per cent of the total value of approvals. Mover-purchasers made up 21.6 per cent of the volume and almost a quarter of the value.
The remaining approvals were split between residential investment letting mortgages, of which there were 93 approvals during the month, remortgaging and switchers, and top-up mortgages.
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“While mover purchasers continue to account for a smaller share of approval activity with a quarter (24.8 per cent) of the value of mortgages approved in November, they reached their highest year-to-date values since the data series began in 2011, at almost €3.6 billion,” Brian Hayes, chief executive of BPFI, said.
Industry experts expect the remortgage and switching market to grow this year, prompted by fixed-rate maturities and home improvements.
The latest data indicates little evidence of any slowdown in the property market, which continues to suffer from constrained supply.
The volume and value of overall mortgage approvals in November were at the highest level since 2011, when the data was first recorded.
Although the November monthly data showed there was a decline of almost 9 per cent in the number of mortgages approved compared with October, approvals rose 4.7 per cent compared with November 2023.
The number of mortgages approved fell by 8.9 per cent month-on-month between October and November, but rose by 4.7 per cent compared with the same period last year. The value of mortgages, meanwhile, was down 8 per cent month on month and up 13 per cent on a yearly basis.
The average first-time buyer approval is now at €319,161, a rise of 8.3 per cent year on year. That reflects the growth in house prices, which has continued steadily throughout the year.
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Industry experts said there needed to be more homes delivered to help get prices in check.
“First-time buyer mortgage approvals reaching record highs is a clear indicator of the strong demand for home ownership, driven by a resilient economy and uncertainty in the rental market,” Trevor Grant, chairman of Irish Mortgage Advisors, said. “While this is encouraging, we need to see significantly more new homes delivered to curb house price inflation and meet growing demand.”
New data published by property websites and estate agents has shown no sign that rising prices will falter in the near future.
The latest report from property website Daft.ie estimates house prices across the Republic climbed by an average of 9 per cent last year. It also noted fewer second-hand homes were on the market at the end of 2023 than at any point since the platform began publishing housing data in 2007, indicating an ongoing squeeze in market supply.
Separately, estate agent DNG said it expected house prices across the country to rise by as much as 8 per cent this year, bringing the average price of a second-hand home in Dublin to almost €630,000.
Meanwhile, property website MyHome.ie said the average mortgage loan for a house purchase here exceeded €300,000 for the first time last year, up 7 per cent year on year in the third quarter.
The BPFI data indicated further strength in the market in the coming months.
“Looking forward, approvals activity tends to slow down between December and February, but the strong approvals activity in the past year has resulted in a healthy pipeline for mortgage drawdowns in the months ahead,” Mr Hayes said.
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