Mortgage drawdown values for the first half of the year reached their highest level since 2008.
That’s according to the latest figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), which show mortgage drawdown values reached almost €6.2 billion in the first six months of 2025.
The volume of mortgages also climbed by 10% over the same period to 20,195.
First-time buyers continue to dominate, with 11,803 mortgages, valued at more than €3.7 billion. This marked the highest half year drawdown volumes and values since 2007 and 2006, respectively.
The figures also show that the average home mortgage drawdown value in the first half of 2025 reached the highest semi-annual level on record at €329,444.
BPFI noted that the average FTB drawdown value for second-hand property exceeded €300,000 for the first time at €304,351, more than double that of the figures €147,091 in the first half of 2013.
The latest BPFI figures also show that switching activity jumped by 41.9% in volume and 60% in value year-on-year, with the value of switcher mortgages reaching €732m, the third highest level since 2008.
BPFI said that signals a normalisation of switching trends, following a sharp peak in activity in 2022 and subsequent slowdown.
A total of 10,978 new mortgages to the value of €3.371 billion were drawn down by borrowers during the second quarter of 2025 - an increase of 9.6% in volume and 18.1% in value on the second quarter of 2024.
First-time buyers remained the single largest segment by volume (59.1%) and by value (60.9%) while re-mortgage/switching volumes and values soared by 67.2% and 91.5% year on year respectively.
Chief executive of BPFI Brian Hayes said that new properties (including self-build) accounted for 34.5% of home purchase mortgage drawdowns in the first half of 2025, up from 31.7% the same time last year, and the highest first half proportion since 2010.
"The number of first-time buyer mortgages on new properties continued to increase significantly, reaching 4,531, the highest H1 level since 2008. By contrast, while the number of mortgages on second-hand properties increased marginally to 10,312 it was 9.7% below the level in H1 2022 (11,417)," he added.
Looking forward, Mr Hayes said that first-time buyer mortgage approval volumes rose by 5.4% to 15,736 in the first half of 2025, the highest half year level since the data series began in 2011, while mover purchase approval volumes fell for the fourth year in a row to 4,990.
"First-time buyer housing demand remains very strong, with 22,903 Help to Buy applications in the first half of 2025, according to the Revenue Commissioner, almost 41% more than in H1 2024," he added.
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