First-time buyer mortgage approvals hit a record high last November.
That’s according to the latest report from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
Their latest release shows that first-time buyer volumes rose to 31,049 in the 12 months ending November 2024, while the value of these approvals was almost €9.5 billion.
A total of 4,400 mortgages were approved in November 2024 and first-time buyers accounted for 2,657 of these mortgages - 60.4% of the total volume. Mover purchasers accounted for 952 mortgages or 21.6% of the total.
The figures show that the number of mortgages approved fell by 8.9% month-on-month and rose by 4.7% compared with the same time in 2023.
Mortgages approved were valued at €1.365 billion, of which FTBs accounted for €848m (62.1%) and mover purchasers for €339m (24.8%).
BPFI also noted that re-mortgage/switching activity rose by 26.5% in volume terms year-on-year and by 36.3% in value in November.
Brian Hayes, the chief executive of BPFI, said the average FTB mortgage rose by 8.3%, or more than €24,000, year on year in November to a new high of €319,161.
He said this reflected strong growth in residential property prices.
"While mover purchasers continue to account for a smaller share of approval activity with a quarter (24.8%) of the value of mortgages approved in November, they reached their highest year-to-date values since the data series began in 2011, at almost €3.6 billion," he stated.
"Looking forward, approvals activity tends to slow down between December and February but the strong approvals activity in the past year has resulted in a healthy pipeline for mortgage drawdowns in the months ahead," the CEO added.
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