Value of mortgage approvals at a ten-year high in July – BPFI
Just over 53,500 mortgages to the value of almost €13.2 billion were approved in Ireland in the 12 months to the end of July, according to Banking and Payments Federation Ireland.
That represented an increase in approval volumes of just over 3% compared to the 12 months to the end of June, while the value of mortgages approved was 3.7% higher.
That is the highest level of annual approval volumes and values since the data series began around a decade ago.
“The value of approvals more than doubled since the 12 months ending October 2016, driven by growth in lending to FTBs (first-time buyers) and re-mortgages or switching,” Brian Hayes, CEO of Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, said.
“These are significant figures and very much signal a robust pipeline for drawdown activity later in the year,” he added.
A mortgage approval is an offer to a customer of a credit facility secured on a property but it does not guarantee that the mortgage will be drawn down.
Just over 5,000 mortgages were approved in the month of July alone, the figures show, with first-time buyers again accounting for over half of the activity.
It represented a 3.3% decrease in approval volumes compared to June, but when compared to last July, approval volumes were up over 48%.
Approval values stood at just over €1.28 billion in the month, an increase of 0.6% on June, but it was up over 58% on July of last year.
The mortgage market was still relatively depressed in July of 2020 owing to uncertainty around the trajectory of the pandemic which impacted the property market generally.
“Mortgage approvals for July show continued growth, especially for FTB (first-time buyer) mortgages. In total, almost €1.3 billion in mortgages were approved, the most in any month since BPFI began collecting this data in 2011,” Mr Hayes said.
Article Source – Value of mortgage approvals at a ten-year high in July – BPFI – RTE – Brian Finn
