New figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland show there was a fall in the number of mortgages approved by Ireland’s main banks in May compared to the same time last year.
That was driven by a more than 10% fall in approvals for first time buyers, although BPFI said that was in part due to May of last year being a particularly strong month.
The number of mover purchaser mortgage approvals was down more than 5%.
That represents a significant problem for the market, because if existing homeowners are not looking to move home that further reduces the number of properties that are available – both to other movers and to first time buyers.
Today’s BPFI figures show that a total of 4,559 mortgages were approved in May 2024, with first-time buyers approved for 2,844 mortgages (62.4% of total volume) and mover purchasers accounting for 980 (21.5%).
The number of mortgages approved rose by 2.5% month-on-month but fell by 7.5% compared with the same month last year.
Mortgages approved in May were valued at €1.365 billion, of which FTBs accounted for €861m (63.1%) and mover purchasers for €358m (26.2%).
Meanwhile, the value of mortgage approvals rose by 3.3% on a monthly basis and fell by 2.2% on an annual basis.
BPFI noted that re-mortgage/switching activity rose by 1.2% in volume terms year-on-year but decreased by 3.3% in value.
“Our latest report shows that there were 4,599 mortgage approvals valued at almost €1.4 billion in May 2024, which means that activity levels remain at historically high levels, with more than 49,100 mortgages valued at more than €14.1 billion in the 12 months ending May 2024”, Brian Hayes, the chief executive of BPFI, said.
“The three months between May and July is a key period for mortgage approvals, traditionally accounting for 28-30% of approvals during the year, so we would expect to see strong approval activity for the next couple of months,” he added.
Article Source – Fall in number of mortgages approved in May – BPFI – RTE
