Mortgage switching activity dropped 75% last November when compared to the same time the previous year, new figures show.
The latest report from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) shows that just 355 mortgages were approved for this group during the month, down from 1,419 in November 2022.
Overall, there has been a slowdown in mortgage approval activity, driven by this drop off in switching.
A total of 4,202 mortgages were approved last November, down almost 23% on the previous year.
Mortgage approvals were valued at €1.2 billion in November, down over 19% on the same month in 2022.
First-time buyers were approved for 61% of all mortgages during the month, while mover purchasers accounted for 959.
The figures show that 30,550 first time buyer mortgages were approved in the 12 months ending November 2023, valued at more than €8.8 billion.
This is the highest volume and value since BPFI started collecting the data in 2010.
“This reflects sustained upward FTB trends throughout most of 2023, although we may be starting to see moderation in the growth of FTB approvals with the year-on-year increase in FTB volumes up by just 1.7%,” said Brian Hayes, Chief Executive of BPFI.
“However, the values of FTB approvals rose by 8.6% reflecting higher housing prices as the average FTB mortgage value reached €294,836, some €19,000 more than in November 2022 (€275,957) and the second highest value recorded since our data series began,” he added.
Article Source – Drop off in switching drives mortgage approvals lower – RTE