James Cox
House sales for first-time buyers are at their highest level since the Celtic Tiger.
The number of mortgages drawn down by first-time buyers in the first three months of this year is the largest since 2007.
In todal, 9,091 new mortgages worth €2,142 million were taken out in the first quarter of 2021.
This represents an increase of 4.5 per cent in volume and 7.3 per cent in value on the corresponding first quarter of 2020.
First-time buyers remained the single largest segment by volume (51.9 per cent) and by value (50.8 per cent).
Mortgage market
Brian Hayes from the Banking and Payments Federation says the mortgage market is performing extremely well, despite the pandemic.
Mr Hayes said: “The figures are really strong and really interesting and demolish the notion that you sometimes hear about that place that banks aren't lending, especially in the Covid period.”
He added: “The numbers this morning are record-breaking in that the first time buyer drawdown in the first quarter of this year is the largest drawdown since 2007.”
A total of 4,324 mortgages were approved in March — some 2,394 were for first-time buyers (55.4 per cent of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 924 (21.4 per cent).
