Irish mortgage lending dropped 57 per cent in the fourth quarter as falling house prices and stricter lending rules deterred buyers.
The value of lending fell to €3.54 billion ($4.46 billion) in the three months through December from €8.28 billion a year earlier, the Dublin-based Irish Banking Federation said in a report today. The volume of home loans dropped 50 per cent, it said.
Irish mortgage lending grew at the slowest pace since at least 1986 in December as the country's economy sank deeper into a recession.
Banks are tightening lending criteria in response to the global financial crisis, the Irish central bank said in a February 6th report. House prices slipped 9.1 per cent last year, according to Irish Life & Permanent, the country's biggest mortgage lender.
"The recorded slowdown in mortgage-market activity reflects the overall economic environment and the very challenging situation that prevails," Irish Banking Federation chief executive officer Pat Farrell said in the report.
The total value of mortgage lending in 2008 was €23 billion, down 32 per cent from 2007.
Bloomberg