Mortgage drawdowns were close to €4 billion in the third quarter of the year with the number of first-time buyers drawing them down at heights last seen in the Celtic Tiger.
That’s according to the latest Mortgage Drawdowns Report from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
Their Q3 2025 report found that the number of mortgages drawn down between July and September increased by 7.7% compared to the same time in 2024.
The value of those mortgages also increased, rising by 16.6% year-on-year.
A a total of 12,570 mortgages were drawn down in the third quarter, valued at €3.974 billion – the second highest value since the data series began in 2003.
More than 27,000 new-buyer mortgages were drawn down in the year to the end of September – the highest annualised number since Q4 2007.
First-time buyers continue to be the most active segment in the market, accounting for six out of 10 mortgage drawdowns in that period, during which close to 46,000 mortgages were drawn down.
BPFI said that first-time buyers remained the single largest segment of the market by volume (59.6%) and by value (60.8%).
The figures also show that re-mortgage/switching volumes and values increased by 35% and 57.9% year on year respectively in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, a total of 4,761 mortgages were approved in September, a monthly increase of 5% and an annual rise of 7.1%.
Mortgages approved in September 2025 were valued at €1.486 billion - of which first-time buyers accounted for €916m (61.6%) and €339m by mover purchasers (22.8%).
Chief executive of BPFI, Brian Hayes, said the latest data shows that mortgage activity in Ireland remains robust.
"Looking at property status, new properties (including self-builds) accounted for over a third (35.8%) of home mortgage drawdowns in Q3 2025, up from 31.6% in Q3 2024," Mr Hayes said.
"Home mortgage drawdown volumes and values on new properties increased year on year by 17.9% and 25.2%, respectively, over the same period, while the value reached over €1.2 billion, the highest Q3 value since 2007," he said.
"This was largely driven by an increase in FTB mortgages on new properties, up by 21.8% in volume to 3,017 and by 29.9% in value to more than €1 billion. In contrast, mover purchasers accounted for just 521 new property mortgage drawdowns valued at €193m in the same period," he added.
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