More first-time buyer mortgages were approved in the first 11 months of 2025 than ever before.
That’s according to the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland’s (BPFI) latest Mortgage Approvals Report for November 2025.
With 49,760 mortgage approvals in the first 11 months of last year valued at €15.8 billion, the report found that first-time buyer approvals reached their highest year-to-date activity levels since the data series began in 2011, with over 30,000 approvals valued at almost €10 billion over the same period.
A total of 4,251 mortgages were approved in November 2025 – first-time buyers were approved for 2,512 mortgages (59.1% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 863 (20.3%).
The number of mortgages approved fell by 11.1% month-on-month and fell by 3.4% compared with the same period last year.
Mortgages approved in November were valued at €1,354 million – of which first-time buyers accounted for €822 million (60.7%) and mover purchasers for €323 million (23.8%).
The value of mortgage approvals fell by 12.3% month-on-month and by 0.8% year-on-year while re-mortgage/switching activity rose by 19.4% in volume terms.
Commenting on the publication of the latest data and reflecting on the figures year to date, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said: “Our latest report reveals that there were 4,251 mortgage approvals in November 2025 with overall values at almost €1.4 billion (€1,354 million). This represented a slight decline in activity, with approval volumes down by 3.4% compared with November 2024 and values down by 0.8%. The most notable slowdown was observed in home purchase mortgage approvals, including those for first-time buyers and mover purchasers, which experienced an overall reduction of 6.8% in volume and 3.5% in value year-on-year.”
“However, looking more broadly at the eleven-month period to the end of November 2025, there were 49,760 mortgage approvals, amounting to €15.8 billion. FTB approvals reached their highest activity levels since the data began in 2011 over the same period, with over 30,000 (30,124) approvals valued at almost €10 billion (€9,796 million). This was more than four times the value of mortgage approvals in the same period of 2015 (€2,432 million).”
He continued: “By contrast, mover purchase approval volumes dropped to 9,634 in the first eleven months of 2025, the lowest year-to-date level since 2015. Nevertheless, values rose to more than €3.6 billion over the same period, the highest year-to-date values since the data series began.”
Looking at mortgage switching activity, Mr Hayes added: “Meanwhile, mortgage switching activity continued to grow with more than 5,900 (5,918) switcher approvals valued at over €1.7 billion (€1,721 million) in the first eleven months of 2025. This represents an increase of 35.7% in volume and 55.1% in value on the same period of 2024, and the highest year-to-date activity levels since 2022.”
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