Mortgage lending has hit a new low with new figures showing that just under 3,000 were given out in Q3, 2011.
That means that lending for the year is on course to be at its lowest level since banks first started collecting the information.
In the latest report published by the Irish Banking Federation / PwC, it was revealed that for the first three quarters of 2011, a total of 7907 new mortgages were given out (this excludes mortgages granted for switching and top-up).
On an annual basis, this equates to just 10,500 mortgages, less than the 11,700 granted in 1971.
That is just 7% of the activity that was recorded during the boom in 2006 when over 111,000 mortgages were granted and well short of the 22,042 that were issued in the same nine month spell of last year.
According to the Irish Mortgage Corporation, however, demand remains with consumer enquiries remaining relatively steady, albeit with a slight decrease compared to the same point in 2010.
The collapse in bank lending is also fueling the continued downward spiral in home prices, which according to the CSO, have fallen by 50% - 55% since peak in 2007.
