Irish mortgage rates dropped slightly in April, new data from the Central Bank of Ireland shows.
The average interest rate on a new mortgage was 4.24%, down 0.07 percentage points compared to March.
This meant Ireland had the seventh highest rates in the Eurozone, an improvement of one place on the previous month.
The Eurozone average fell for the fifth month in a row to 3.81%.
However rates varied hugely across the currency bloc from as low as 2% in Malta to as high as 6.23% in Latvia.
Daragh Cassidy of price comparison website Bonkers.ie, said as expected the average interest rate in Ireland fell in April, from the previous month’s record high.
“The rate should creep slightly lower over the coming months as the rate reductions that have been introduced by several lenders recently feed through into the figures,” he said.
Mr Cassidy said if the ECB cuts rates again over the coming months, that will hopefully put further downward pressure on mortgage rates.
“Yet regardless of how quickly or by how much rates fall later this year, the tens of thousands of mortgage holders on fixed rates which are due to come to an end over the next few months still need to be preparing for potentially higher repayments,” he warned.
“Many mortgage holders who took out a fixed rate over the past three or four years may be enjoying rates as low as 2% or 3% at present.
“But they’ll still generally be faced with much higher rollover rates when they look to re-fix,” he said.
Article Source – Irish mortgage rates drop slightly in April, Central Bank data shows – RTE
