Business

Austrian-owned MoCo reduces interest rates for Irish borrowers

The mortgage startup soft launched in the Irish market in November last year

MoCo soft launched its home loan offering in the Irish market in November of last year, with its mortgages available via a number of independent brokers. Photograph: iStock

Ellen O’Regan
Thu Jan 18 2024 - 17:46

Austrian-owned mortgage start-up MoCo is cutting mortgage interest rates for new borrowers, after soft launching in the Irish market two months ago.

Taking effect from Thursday, MoCo has reduced its lowest five-year fixed term mortgage rate to 4.5 per cent, from 4.65 per cent previously.

Meanwhile, the lowest interest rate MoCo is now offering for a three-year fixed term is 4.6 per cent, down from 4.8 per cent.

Interest rates offered by MoCo are dependent on the mortgage’s loan to value ratio. Rate reductions will apply immediately to all new applications and to any active application that has not yet been drawn down.

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Austrian bank Bawag took over the company behind MoCo, an Irish business that had been looking to enter the mortgage market, in March for a nominal price of €35.

A spokesman for Bawag said MoCo’s rate reductions are effective “immediately”, and are in response to a fall in average mortgage interest rates reported by the Central Bank this month.

“We continue to be excited about the Irish market and growth opportunity,” he said.

MoCo soft launched its home loan offering in the Irish market in November of last year, with its mortgages available via a number of independent brokers.

Bawag’s involvement came as Dutch merchant bank NIBC, which was a key backer of the company behind MoCo, decided against providing more equity finance to the start-up.

The executive team at MoCo is led by former AIB executive Aidan Sherry.

Commenting on MoCo’s reduced mortgage rates, chairman of the Association of Irish Mortgage Advisors Trevor Grant said the cuts are “great news for mortgage customers”, and make MoCo a “very attractive option for prospective borrowers, particularly first-time buyers”.

“While we don’t expect the mainstream lenders to follow suit with rate cuts, we are hopeful the nonbank lenders can increase their competitiveness with a series of rate reductions during 2024,” he said.

Daragh Cassidy, head of communications with price comparison site Bonkers.ie, welcomed the cut in MoCo’s rates, but highlighted that first-time buyers and movers can “still get cheaper rates elsewhere”.

“For example the typical first-time buyer with a 10 per cent deposit who’s borrowing around €300,000 can get a five-year fixed rate of 4.10 per cent with Avant Money and 4.25 per cent with Bank of Ireland. And if you buy a home with a BER of at least B, you can get a five-year ‘green’ rate of just 3.85 per cent with AIB. This compares to a rate of 4.65 per cent with MoCo. Rates as low as 3.65 per cent are on offer from some lenders, albeit with caveats. This compares to MoCo’s lowest rate of 4.50 per cent at present,” he said.

“So I’m not sure if today’s news is really going to shake things up much. However it’s still good to have another lender in the market, especially given the recent exits of Ulster Bank and KBC, as it means more choice,” he added.

Ellen O'Regan

Ellen O’Regan

Ellen O’Regan is an Irish Times journalist.

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