The amount of mortgages approvals increased by a third last month. The vast majority was first-time buyers.

With mortgage approval rates increasing, we can expect property prices to keep rising.

The Banking and Payments Federation figures also showed the amount of the approvals is increasing.

A reason for rapid increase could be from Eoghan Murphy, the Housing Minister, reviewing the Help-to-Buy scheme. This review is a result of the Help-to-Buy scheme being accused of inflating house prices.

The increase of approvals does not mean an increase in mortgage drawdowns, as finding a home increases in difficulty. With the housing shortage, houses for sale have multiple offers so you have to outbid the others.

Forecasts predict mortgage lending to go up from €5.7 billion last year to €7.5 billion this year. Within the next three years it might even reach €13 billion.

Mortgage approvals were up from 3,046 last May to 4,124 this May. That makes a 35 percent increase in a year.

We can expect to see an increase of competition among mortgage lending banks with lower interest rates or offering incentives to try to win over the increase of potential buyers.

In reference to First-time buyers are driving surge in mortgage approvals and Surge in mortgage approvals looks set to fuel house price increases by Charlie Weston in Independent.ie.