First-time buyers have less spending power than a year ago and are having to borrow more to secure a home, according to figures from two new reports on the Irish property market.

Data from Daftmortgages.ie, which is part of the Daft property website, suggests that a typical mortgage seeker has €11,000 less in savings to put towards a deposit than their counterparts a year ago. Daft said the findings were based on an analysis of more than 170,000 (81 per cent of them being first-time buyers) people who had submitted their buying plans on its website in preparing for a mortgage. Colin Gleeson reports.

Dublin Port’s trade volumes almost recovered to pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit levels in the first half of the year but Brexit has depressed average trailer and container loads, new figures show. The State’s largest port released first-half figures showing an increase in trade volumes in the six months compared with 2021 as trade rebounded from the Covid-19 slump. Simon Carswell has the details.

Even when it was apparent that this heatwave was manifesting as a record-breaking omen of worse extremes to come, one strand of the British media doubled down on their deliberate dismissals before performing brazen overnight reversals. Laura Slattery on why its time to call out the weather clichés.

Cantillon warns us that workers will get restless unless employers give reasonable cost-of-living pay rises and says that AIB could regret their cash-less branches fiasco.

Fiona Reddan outlines six reasons to think twice about the buying a home with equity scheme.

Are KBC fixed-mortgage holders being held to ransom? Why could Bank of Ireland customers not pay my fee into my Revolut account? Dominic Coyle answers your personal finance questions.

What will the ECB move on interest rates mean for consumers, mortgage-holders and the economy? Cliff Taylor explains on our Inside Business podcast.

Stay up to date with all our business news — sign up to our Business Today daily email news digest.