FIRST-TIME BUYER MORTGAGE approvals reached their highest levels on record last year, with over 30,000 approvals between January and November.

Those greenlit mortgages were valued at almost €10 billion, according to the data published by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).

In November alone, a total of 4,251 mortgages were approved and first-time buyers were 59% of these (2,512 mortgages).

But there was a slight decline in overly monthly mortgage activity year-on-year, with approval volumes down by 3.4% and values down by 0.8%.

BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes said the first-time buyer approvals were “more than four times” the value of mortgage approvals in the same period of 2015 (€2,432 million).

However, Hayes said the “most notable slowdown” was observed in home purchase mortgage approvals, including those for first-time buyers and mover purchasers, which experienced an overall reduction of 6.8% in volume and 3.5% in value year-on-year.

“Our latest report reveals that there were 4,251 mortgage approvals in November 2025 with overall values at almost €1.4 billion. This represented a slight decline in activity,” Hayes said.

However, Hayes said, a more broad look at the eleven-month period to the end of November, there were 49,760 mortgage approvals, amounting to €15.8 billion.

The number of mortgages approved fell by 11.1% month-on-month and fell by 3.4% compared with the same period last year.

The value of mortgage approvals fell by 12.3% month-on-month and by 0.8% year-on-year.

Re-mortgage/switching activity rose by 19.4% in volume terms year-on-year and by 25.0% in value in the same period.