New figures show that the number of mortgages approved fell by 0.2% in November on a monthly basis, while they rose by 24.3% compared with the same time last year.
Banking & Payments Federation Ireland said that a total of 5,198 mortgages were approved in November.
First-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 54.4% of the total volume of these new mortgages while mover purchasers accounted for 26.4%.
Today’s figures also reveal that mortgages approved in November were valued at €1.281 billion. First-time buyers accounted for €692m of these home loans and mover purchasers for €388m.
The value of mortgage approvals rose by 2.2% month-on-month and by 33.3% year-on-year, BPFI said.
Brian Hayes, the chief executive of BPFI, said the latest mortgage approvals data shows continued strong activity in November with approval values at their highest since BPFI began collating this data in 2011, despite the fact that the country was in lockdown during this time.
“Interestingly November saw solid growth in mover purchase activity which was, in part, driven by a significant increase in the average mortgage approval – the average mover purchase approval exceeded €280,000 for the first time at €282,443,” Brian Hayes said.
“And even though mortgage approvals are down by 15% in volume terms and 9.9% in value terms in the year to date, the continued strong activity we have in November represents a robust pipeline for drawdown activity which we are likely to see coming through in the coming months,” he added.
Article Source: Mortgage approval values at highest level since 2011 – RTE