Mortgage approvals for the month of August were up 50% on the same month of last year, according to new data from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).
In total there were €595m worth of mortgage approvals last month and €1.8bn worth of approvals in the three months to August, up 33% on last year.
According to Davy, the concern for banks is that in a tightening housing market growing numbers of mortgage approvals are chasing too few properties.
In 2015, €5bn of mortgages approved for house purchase translated into €4.4bn of actual lending. However, the conversion rate in the first half of 2016 had slipped back to 77% from 88% last year. Mortgage lending for house purchase equalled just €2bn in the first half of 2016, far lower than the €2.6bn of approvals.
A report by Davy commented: "We know that the number of homes listed for sale on MyHome.ie was close to a historic low at 23,500 in June 2016. Similarly, the average time to sale agreed narrowed to just 4.1 months in the second quarter. This is consistent with potential buyers under greater pressure to secure homes."
They added: "The overall number of residential transactions in the first eight months of year is down 5% on 2015. Put simply, the lack of housing construction means that greater numbers of potential buyers are focusing on a smaller pool of homes listed for sale."
