Mortgage approvals strong in April as first-time buyers drive market

Mortgage approvals remained strong in April as first time buyers flocked to the market, new data showed.

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said a total of 4,362 mortgages valued at just over €1 billion were approved during the month, the highest value for April since the organisation began collecting the data in 2011.

First time buyers accounted for almost 55 per cent of the total volume of approvals and a similar percentage of value, with movers accounting for 23.2 per cent in volume and 27.3 per cent in value.

Approvals overall were 0.9 per cent higher month-on-month, and 98.3 per cent higher than the same period in 2020, when the pandemic had taken hold. Value was 2.4 per cent higher month on month and107.5 per cent higher year on year.

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"April was another strong month for mortgage approvals, especially for first-time-buyers. Compared with April last year, when the country was experiencing its first lockdown, there has been a doubling of activity across most mortgage categories during April 2021," said Brian Hayes, chief executive of BPFI. "It is important we look at the figures in the context of how different those two lockdowns have been and take into account how well lenders and customers have adapted in the intervening 12 months to working within Level 5 restrictions."

The annualised figures show 46,131 mortgage approvals in the 12 months ending April 2021, valued at €11.2 billion, the highest value since the data series began in 2011.

The growth was mainly driven by first time buyers approvals, which rose 5.9 per cent to almost €6.2 billion in the 12 months ended April 2021.