Mortgage approvals soar but would-be buyers wait on supply
NEW figures show the scale of pent-up demand among would-be home buyers with approvals running well ahead of mortgage drawdowns.
Figures from the Banking and Payments Federation, which represents lenders, show that 8,577 new mortgages to the value of €1.884bn were drawn down by borrowers during the first quarter of 2019.
First-time buyers remain the main driver of mortgage lending in the first three months of this year, accounting for 47.3pc of all loans drawn down and 47.9pc of the value of borrowing.
Separate figures show there were 4,142 mortgages approved in March, more than half for first-time buyers.
Approval are up 22.8pc compared to March last year. The number of mortgage approvals has raced ahead of drawdowns in recent years as first time buyers in particular have struggled to find homes to buy amid tight supply and constrained lending rules.
The figures also show a rose in the number of re-mortgages and mortgage switching approvals, a trend pushed by regulators keen for consumers to avail of potentially lower costs.
“The number and value of mortgages actually drawn down by borrowers during Q1 2019 show good growth on corresponding 2018 activity,” BPFI’s director of Public Affairs, Felix O’Regan, said.
“This reflects the appropriate response by lenders to increased demand for mortgage finance. Furthermore, the uplift in the number and value of mortgages approved in March indicates that further growth in drawdown activity can be expected,” he added.
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