Residential mortgage lending showed a surprise rebound in January rising by €350 million to €482 million, according to the latest figures from the Central Bank.
The amount lent for residential property mortgages was equivalent to the total advanced during the final three months of 2008.
Despite this monthly increase, the annual rate of mortgage lending continued to decline, dropping to 5.4 per cent from 5.8 per cent in December, the bank said in its monthly statistics.
Overall private sector credit increased by €3.3 billion in January, although this monthly increased brought the annual rate of increase down 0.5 per cent to 6 per cent.