Over €1bn in mortgage approvals in January, figures show

Fiachra Gallagher

Over €1 billion in mortgage approvals were made in January, figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) show.

A total of 3,697 mortgages were approved, with first-time buyers making up 51 per cent of approvals. The total value of mortgages approved for first-times buyers was €520 million.

First-time buyers remain the largest segment of the mortgage market.

The number approved represented a slight yearly rise: 2.1 per cent up from January 2022. A rise of 1.7 per cent was recorded from December to January.

The value of mortgages approved saw a year-on-year jump of 8.9 per cent.

Non-purchase mortgage activity, which includes switching and top-ups, grew by 2.1 per cent year-on-year in volume terms to 877, and by 4.6 per cent year-on-year to €205 million in the same period.

Chief Executive of BPFI Brian Hayes noted that in January, "the value of approvals for property purchase increased by 10% year-on-year to €810 million.

There were over 58,000 mortgage approvals (58,352) in the twelve months ending January 2023, valued at almost €16 billion (€15,935 million).

"This is the highest value of annualised mortgage approvals since our data series began in 2011 compared with €13.6 billion in the twelve months ending January 2021," Mr Hayes said.

"While the volume of non-purchase mortgages (switching and top-ups) rose by 2.1 per cent, the figures indicate a significant slowdown in this segment from previous periods," he added.