As banks continue to offer their best mortgage rates to homeowners who are willing to lock into fixed rates, new data from the Central Bank shows that the number of outstanding fixed rate loans showed a marked increase in the second quarter.

Although still accounting for a small share of the total market, at less than 10 per cent, fixed rate mortgages for owner-occupiers grew by 16.4 per cent in the year to June 2015, the largest annual increase since the series began in December 2011. Most of those fixing do so for between one and three years, the Central Bank said.

Tracker mortgages, which account for 41 per cent of oustanding loans, recorded a € 382 million (1.5%) decrease in Q2, while standard variable rate mortgages, which account for 47 per cent of outstanding loans, fell by €44m in the period.

Overall, the total number of mortgage loans outstanding fell by €96m to €60.4bn at end-June 2015, and declined on an annual basis by 1.5 per cent.

Borrowing for investment properties continues to show few signs of recovery. Outstanding buy-to-let properties fell by €449m in Q2 to €16bn, down by 6.4 per cent on an annual basis.