Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for October 2022. The following are the key elements:
- A total of 5,349 mortgages were approved in October 2022 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 2,363 mortgages (44.2% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 1,001 (18.7%).
- There was no change in the number of mortgages approved month-on-month, but volumes rose by 17.1% compared with the same period last year.
- Mortgages approved in October 2022 were valued at €1,462 million – of which FTBs accounted for €633 million (43.3%) and mover purchasers for €320 million (21.9%).
- The value of mortgage approvals fell by 0.7% month-on-month and by rose by 23% year-on-year.
- Non-purchase mortgage activity, which includes switching and top-ups, grew by 124.4% in volume terms year-on-year to 1,910 and by 164.2% year-on-year to €497 million over the same period.
Speaking on the publication of the data, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI stated: “Our latest mortgage data is showing continued growth in mortgage activity driven solely by a sharp increase in non-purchase mortgages, mainly switching. For the first time since 2011, non-purchase mortgages accounted for more than one third of both the volume (35.7%) and the value (34%) of monthly approvals with the volume of those non-purchase mortgages increasing to their second highest level since the data series began (after June 2022). It is clear that customers are actively managing their mortgages by seeking out new deals to minimise the impact of ECB interest rate decisions and this is further evidenced by separate data from the Central Bank of Ireland which shows that the value of mortgages renegotiated on fixed-rate terms more than trebled between Q3 2021 and Q3 2022 to €1.7 billion.”
“In contrast, FTB approval volumes were the lowest for October since 2019. Looking at the annualised figures, which allows us to more accurately assess emerging key trends, both FTB and mover purchase approval volumes in the twelve months ending October 2022 were the lowest since the twelve months ending May 2021, with activity returning to pre-Covid levels. However, in value terms, FTB approvals remained close to the peak of €7.7 billion (August 2022), reflecting the sharp increase in housing prices since 2021.
The BPFI Mortgage Approval Report October 2022 can be viewed on the BPFI website here and data series can be downloaded here.
