Consumers are increasingly going green with their personal loans, according to new figures on personal lending from the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI).
The value of the average green personal loan rose by €474 in the first quarter, reaching €22,906 – more than double the value of the average personal loan in the period, at €11,239.
Green personal loans made up €35.1 million of all borrowing between January and March.
The growth in green loans coincides with the highest value of personal loan drawdowns of any quarter since BPFI began to compile the data in 2020. In total, Irish consumers drew down €683 million in personal loans in the three-month period.
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Green borrowing is made up of car loans, for vehicles with electric batteries and plug-in hybrids, and home improvement loans such as for heat pumps or solar panels, and insulation upgrades.
In the year to the end of Q1 2025, 5,500 green loans were issued, valued at €127 million. This represented nearly 900 more such loans than the previous 12-month period, as such lending saw the “biggest increase in value” of any loan category.
“While increases were seen across all categories,” it was green personal loans that had the “highest relative jump in value of 29.3 per cent year on year to €35.1 million in Q1 2025 and in volume by 26.6 per cent to 1,531," said Anthony O’Brien, BPFI’s head of sector research and analysis.
Mr O’Brien said there has been “continued strong demand for personal loans” with the first three months of the year marking “a new high for overall drawdown volumes and values”.
There were 60,770 personal loans taken out in the period, with growth in the number of loans and their value of 22.1 per cent and 24.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
On an annual basis, Irish consumers have drawn down 240,423 personal loans in the past four quarters at a value of €2.6 billion.
Against this backdrop, the value of car loans reached a record €259 million in the first quarter of the year, following a 25 per cent increase on the €208 million figure in Q1 2024.
Mr O’Brien said there has been a “continued surge in car loans” with the category seeing 21.5 per cent year-on-year growth in numbers to 19,552, alongside an increase in value of 25.0 per cent in the same period.
“These are the highest car loan volumes and values since the data series began in 2020,” he said, noting that growth in electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles “is likely contributing to these increases”.
Home improvement loans increased in value by just over 19 per cent, while other loans, which include education, holidays and special occasions, rose in value by 27.5 per cent to €226 million.
