File photo Shutterstock / Michael Dechev Shutterstock / Michael Dechev / Michael Dechev

MORE THAN 12,000 new mortgages, valued at €2.7 billion, were drawn down by borrowers during the fourth quarter of 2019, according to a new report.

Just over half of these (52%) related to first-time buyers, according to figures released by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) today.

BPFI BPFI

There were more than 49,000 mortgage approvals in Ireland overall in 2019, valued at €11 billion, the report states.

BPFI BPFI

There were 12,259 mortgage drawdowns in the last three months of 2019, valued at €2.768 billion. 

This represents an increase of 1.2% in volume and 5% in value on the last three months of 2018. It also represents an increase of 3.9% in volume and 4.9% in value compared with the previous quarter in 2019.

A mortgage drawdown occurs when a customer draws down some or all of an approved mortgage to buy or build a residential property.

BPFI BPFI

There were 9,941 purchase mortgage drawdowns, valued at €2.3 billion in the final quarter of 2019.

Purchase mortgage drawdown activity rose in volume by 3.4% year-on-year and increased in value by 7.6% over the same period, according to the report.

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First-time buyer (FTB) mortgage drawdown volume increased by 11% year-on-year to 6,386, while mover-purchase drawdown volume decreased by 8% year-on-year to 3,187.

Residential investment letting (RIL) mortgage drawdown volume decreased by 7.8% year-on-year to 368.

Re-mortgage/switching mortgage drawdown volume fell by 12.5% year-on-year to 1,473, while the number of top-up drawdowns rose by 3.7% year-on-year to 845.

FTB mortgage drawdown values increased by 15.8% year-on-year to €1.4 billion, while the value of mover-purchase drawdowns decreased by 3.4% year-on-year to €813 million.

RIL mortgage drawdown values decreased by 8.9% year-on-year to €55 million, the report notes.

The value of re-mortgage/switching mortgage drawdown fell by 10.3% year-on-year to €357 million, while the value of top-up drawdowns rose by 11.0% year-on-year to €79 million.