Mortgage approvals hit a record €14.1 billion in the 12 months to May, new figures shows.
The number of approvals exceeded 43,000 for the first time since the data series began, with 43,070 approvals in the year.
First time buyers (FTBs) continued to dominate, with 32,118 mortgage approvals valued at more than €10.1 billion over the same period.
Meanwhile, the figures show that mortgage switching approvals reached their highest monthly levels in May since January 2023, jumping by almost 67% in volume and 95% in value year-on-year.
“This marks a return to historically typical levels of switching activity, following a sharp peak in activity in 2022 and subsequent slowdown,” said Brian Hayes, Chief Executive of BPFI.
In May, FTBs were approved for 3,092 mortgages, over 60% of total approvals, while mover purchasers accounted for almost 19%.
The number of mortgages approved last month rose by 7.1% on the previous month and by 10.5% compared with the same period last year.
Mortgages approved in May were valued at €1.6 billion – of which FTBs accounted for €1 billion and mover purchasers for €364 million.
The value of mortgage approvals rose by 7.1% month-on-month and by 17.8% year-on-year.
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“The fundamentals for mortgage lending are really favourable,” said Martina Hennessy, Managing Director of Doddl.ie. “We’ve high levels of employment, we’ve low interest rates and more choice with two new lenders to the market and increased mortgage lending by credit unions.
“So we’re now in a market where we’ve more people who are mortgage-ready, interest rates are lower which leads to increased affordability, so the main impediment to home ownership is clearly supply.”
Ms Hennessy said this ultimately meant that while there are now more approvals than ever, the percentage of those that will be able to convert that into a mortgage drawdown will fall.
“The more demand that’s there with restrictions on supply means it’s more difficult for people to secure properties,” she said.
“We’re in an environment where it’s easier to access mortgage finance so more people are in that net of approval and it’s further aggravating the problem of low supply.
“That’s resulting in property price inflation and meaning that less people can get on the property ladder – it’s getting increasing less affordable to buy a home, particularly in urban areas,” Ms Hennessy said.
