New quarterly figures from the Central Bank show mortgage debt declined by €745 million or 1 per cent to €77.6 billion in the first three months of 2015.

According to a breakdown provided by the Central Bank, tracker mortgages accounted for 47 per cent of outstanding loans and standard variable rate mortgages for 43 per cent of debt.

The value of non-mortgage debt outstanding to Irish households fell by 3.3 per cent or €104 million to €12.4 billion during the first quarter. This followed an annual decrease of 4.8 per cent at the end of December 2014. Non-mortgage lending to households has declined by 35.2 per cent since it €28.9 billion peak in the first quarter of 2009.

The outstanding amount of loans for house purchase, which account for 78 per cent of total household loans, fell by €306 million in the period January to March.

The latest figures show that consumers are continuing to save with deposits from private households held in banks rising by 0.5 per cent or €450 million to €86.6 billion at the end of March, the largest quarter-on-quarter increase since the first three months of 2012.