Irish mortgage rates resumed their upward trend in March, after moving fractionally lower in February.
New figures from the Central Bank show that the average interest rate on a new mortgage rose to 3.54% in March, up from 2.92% in February and hitting the highest level since the middle of 2017.
The euro zone average mortgage interest rate rose to 3.52% in March - almost three times the rate it was around 18 months ago.
However, despite the increase in March, Irish mortgage rates are still among the lowest mortgage rates in the euro zone with only France and Malta having lower rates.
The Central Bank figures also show that the average interest rate on new fixed rate mortgage agreements, which make up 89% of the total new mortgage agreements, was 3.44%, an increase of 61 basis point from February and 84 basis points higher than the same time last year.
The total volume of pure new mortgage deals amounted to €732m in March, a 31% decrease on the previous month, and an increase of 9% on the same time last year.
Meanwhile, renegotiated mortgages totalled €427m in March, up from €412m recorded in February.
