Mortgage lending in Ireland is continuing to grow.
The number of mortgages approved in October rose substantially while the value also surged, new figures show.
A total of 4,236 mortgage applications were granted during the month, up 11.4 per cent on September and by 13.6 per cent year-on-year.
Some 2,014 of all approvals granted were for first-time buyers, according to data from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland .
The annualised volume of mortgage approvals reached 45,316 in the 12 months to the end of October, while the value of such approvals exceeded €10 billion for the first time since the federation began keeping records in 2011.
Commenting on the October figures, Felix Regan, Director of Public Affairs with the BPFI, said the annualised figure provides a clearer picture of overall trends.
"This shows that all segments of the mortgage market contributed to an overall increase in annualised approval volumes and values in the twelve months to end-October 2018. Home buyer approvals - first time buyers and mover purchasers - increased in volume by 0.6% to 34,728, while approvals for switching increased by 4.2% to 5,655."
Of the 4,262 mortgages were approved in October 2018, 2,014 - or 47.3% of total volume - were for first-time buyers while mover purchasers accounted for 1,230, or 28.9% of the total.
That was roughly in line with the breakdown in September.
