First Time Buyers lead the way as mortgage drawdowns and approvals continue to rise

As the Irish economy continues to reopen following the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, mortgage approvals and drawdowns have remained on the rise. Recent figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has shown data on mortgage drawdowns and approvals for the second quarter of 2021.

According to the data from BPFI, some 9,625 new mortgages were drawn down in the second quarter of 2021. This represents an increase of 45.4 percent in volume when compared to the same data from the second quarter of 2020, when the pandemic was at its height. These new mortgages have a total value of €2.23 billion, representing an increase in value of 52.5 percent when compared with the same period a year ago. BPFI reports that of these new mortgages, first time buyers represent the largest segment, accounting for some 50.9 percent of all new mortgages.

The vast majority of new mortgages drawn down were to finance a purchase of a home. In the second quarter, there were 7,438 mortgage drawdowns for purchases, with a combined value totaling €1.8 billion, a 47.8 …

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Central Bank warns of New Home shortage

House prices have been surging in Ireland lately, and the new home market has been hit especially hard. The rise in house prices has been caused by a number of factors, and significantly accelerated due to the economic strains of the Covid-19 pandemic. Two recent reports from property websites myhome.ie and daft.ie have suggested that home prices are currently inflating at a 13 percent annual rate. Now, the Central Bank has warned that the pandemic will have a significant affect on the housing supply for the foreseeable future. The Central Bank projects that approximately 25,000 fewer new homes will be built between 2020 and 2023 when compared to pre-pandemic projections.

Among the many factors already driving an increase in pricing has been pent up savings. Consumers have had significantly less things to spend money on since March of last year, especially during those times when the country was under level 5 lockdowns-the strictest possible measure. People have not been able to shop at non-essential retail stores, eat or drink at their favorite pubs, or commute to work, leading to a …

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How credit card fraudsters are adapting to the Pandemic, and how you can be safe

While many businesses had to adapt during 2020, including a major shift from physical to online retail, payment card fraudsters also had to adapt. COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, especially in the first two quarters of 2020, dramatically changed the way shopping was done around the globe. 

 

Payment card fraud numbers from the first two quarters, according to BPFI, are quite concerning. The latest credit and debit card fraud losses for the first half of 2020 amounted to €12.2 million across more than 143,000 fraudulent debit and credit card transactions. While consumers dramatically changed their shopping behavior from physical retail to online, fraudsters followed suit. Because of this, there was a 21% increase in ‘card not present’ fraud transactions. These transactions occur online when a fraudster uses the details of a credit or debit card they have stolen without the card being physically present. Following the trend from in-store retail to online, there was also a parallel decrease in physical instances of fraud. In-store, or point of sale, cases of fraud were down 52% in the first half of 2020, when …

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Is it Getting easier to be approved for a mortgage in Ireland?

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have had many effects on business throughout the world and in Ireland. Every industry has been affected by this pandemic, and many in negative ways. However, this is not exactly the case with the mortgage industry in Ireland.

 

The mortgage industry in Ireland has remained remarkably buoyant over the past year. This is especially significant due to the fact that the country has been under level 5 lockdowns since March of 2020. While one would expect mortgage drawdowns and approvals to decrease like most economic activity, what happened instead was surprising. For the first quarter of 2021, BPFI reports that there were 9,091 new mortgages worth €2.1 billion drawn down by borrowers. These numbers represent a 4.5% increase in volume and a 7.3% increase in value when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2020. This was also the most drawdowns approved in Q1 of any year since 2009. 

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March 2021 was also a strong month for mortgage approvals, especially when considering First Time Buyers (FTBs). In March of 2021, a …

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May 2019 mortgage approvals offer high hopes

The mortgage scene is finally beginning to see some positive growth, especially for first time buyers. Recent figures have just been released for May 2019, which have shown substantial upward traction in regards to the approval of loans. 

The statistics indicated that there has been a 10pc increase in approvals when comparing May 2018 to May 2019. During May 2019, 4926 applications for loans were approved by at least one of the banks. Additionally, there was a 19.9pc increase from April to May of this year. 

Most of the approvals from May seem to have been heavily dominated by first time buyers, who made up 51pc. This demographic  is heavily marked to via social media and other online platforms. Additionally, banks advertise to this untapped market by offering exemptions that make getting a loan more affordable. 

This seems to have been effective, give that approvals are high for this month. If approvals are high, this indicated that there were also a very large number of first time buyer applications that the bank saw during the previous months. Mover purchases also …

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Late loan payments continue to rise

The Central Bank of Ireland reports that the total amount of mortgages that are now classified as long-term arrears have hit record highs, topping the charts at almost 6 billion euro. There are many types of properties that can and have become part of this number, but the largest group tends to be that of more residential properties.

In the previous quarter, mortgages in arrears were down significantly. Sadly, the largest category in mortgages in arrears, residential properties that are two years or above in late payments, is still increasing. The buy-to-let sector has been the largest subcategory of residential properties in arrears; 17.62% of the total is in arrears.

In April 2019, only 118 of all applications of mortgages for buy-to-let properties were approved while in April 2018 154 mortgages were approved. There was a 30% decrease within the same months separated by only one year, according to the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

This huge scale down may be due to Brexit, or perhaps the seeming unreliability of buy-to-let properties ability to bring in …

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