Mortgage drawdowns have fallen by almost a fifth in the first quarter of the year despite strong demand from first-time buyers for home loans.
The latest figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) show that just over 8,400 new mortgages were drawn down between January and March, down almost 20% on the same period of 2023.
This amounts to around 2,000 fewer mortgages being drawn down while switching activity has also suffered a significant drop.
When compared to the previous quarter, the volume of drawdowns dropped over 27%, while the total value fell over 28%.
The fall was driven largely by switching, with re-mortgage and switching volumes down over 53% year-on-year, while the value dropped 59%.
First time buyers still accounted for the bulk of drawdowns in the first quarter of the year - at almost 60%.
However, drawdowns by the group dropped almost 8% on the same time last year, and by over 32% compared to the last quarter.
The exact BPFI figures show that from January to March, 8,419 new mortgages were drawn down by borrowers, to the value of €2.35bn. This is a 19.8% decrease in volume and an 18% fall in value on the corresponding quarter of 2023.
In the same three-month period last year, 10,493 mortgages were drawn down.
"Looking at the latest mortgage figures, we are seeing an overall slowdown in mortgage drawdowns with a drop in both volume and values across all mortgage categories in the first quarter of 2024," said Brian Hayes, chief executive of BPFI.
Despite the overall decline in activity, Mr Hayes said mortgage demand remains strong.
"There were 15,297 applications to the Revenue Commissioners for the Help to Buy scheme in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of almost 60% compared with the 9,585 applications made in the first quarter of 2023," he said.
"On the supply side, however, recent reports have pointed to a shortage of supply of second hand homes for sale and the Central Statistics Office reported a 2.6% year-on-year drop in sales of second hand properties to households in the first two months of this year," he added.
The latest figures show that 3,779 mortgages were approved in March 2024 - over 62% were for FTBs, while mover purchasers accounted for over 21%.
The number of mortgages approved in March rose by 5.5% month-on-month and fell by 16.4% year-on-year.
Mortgages approved during the month were valued at €1.1 billion - of which FTBs accounted for over 64% and mover purchasers for over 24%.
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