Irish Mortgage approvals stay high despite Covid

Strong activity in mortgage approvals in November - BPFI

Approval values at highest level since the series began

Tuesday 22nd December 2020 - Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for November 2020. The following are the key elements:

• A total of 5,198 mortgages were approved in November 2020 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 2,826 mortgages (54.4% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 1,373 (26.4%).
• The number of mortgages approved fell by 0.2% month-on-month and rose by 24.3% compared with the same period last year.
• Mortgages approved in November 2020 were valued at €1,281 million – of which FTBs accounted for €692 million (54.1%) and mover purchasers for €388 million (30.3%).
• The value of mortgage approvals rose by 2.2% month-on-month and by 33.3% year-on-year.

Speaking on the publication of the data, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI stated: “Our latest mortgage approvals data shows continued strong activity in November with approval values at their highest since BPFI began collating this data in 2011, despite the fact that the country was in lockdown during this time. Interestingly November saw solid growth in mover purchase activity which was, in part, driven by a significant increase in the average mortgage approval – the average mover purchase approval exceeded €280,000 for the first time at €282,443. And even though mortgage approvals are down by 15% in volume terms and 9.9% in value terms in the year to date, the continued strong activity we have in November represents a robust pipeline for drawdown activity which we are likely to see coming through in the coming months.”

The BPFI Mortgage Approval Reports November 2020 is attached above can be viewed on the BPFI website here.