Lending restrictions cool irish mortgage market

The tighter lending restrictions introduced by Ireland's Central Bank continued to cool down the country's mortgage market at the end of last year. The number of mortgage approvals in December 2015 fell by 14.6 per cent year-on-year and by 6.7 per cent month-on-month.

A total of 2,375 mortgages were approved per month, on average, in the three months ending December 2015, according to figures from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, with 51 per cente for first-time buyers and 29 per cent for mover purchasers.

The value of mortgages approved per month, on average, in the three months ending December was €448 million, fell by 12.3 per cent year-on-year and by 5.1 per cent month-on-month.

There was, however, a 13 per cent rise in the number of mortgages approved across the whole of 2015, with 29,925 mortgages approved, valued at €5.6 billion.