Over €1 billion in mortgage approvals were made in January, according to the latest figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
The figures show a total of 3,697 mortgages were approved, with first-time buyers making up 51% of approvals. The total value of mortgages approved for first-time buyers was €520 million.
First-time buyers remain the largest segment of the mortgage market.
The numbers approved represented a slight yearly rise: up 2.1% from January 2022. A rise of 1.7% was also recorded from December to January.
The value of mortgages approved saw a year-on-year increase of 8.9%.
Non-purchase mortgage activity, which includes switching and top-ups, grew by 2.1% year-on-year in volume terms to 877, and by 4.6% 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 58,352 mortgage approvals in the 12 months ending January 2023, valued at almost €16 billion.
"This is the highest value of annualised mortgage approvals since our data series began in 2011 compared with €13.6 billion in the 12 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.
