Mortgage activity continued to fall in the third quarter of the year, but there are tentative signs that rate of decline is moderating.
Figures released this morning by the Irish Banking Federation (IBF) show that 12,189 new mortgages were issued in quarter three. This represents a 56.4 per cent year-on-year fall, but is just 3.9 per cent down on the previous quarter.
The number of home loans issued to first-time buyers grew for the second successive month, with this segment of the market now accounting for almost one-third of all new home loans.
"We have seen an increase of nearly 500 over the previous quarter in the number of mortgages issued to first-time buyers," commented IBF chief executive Pat Farrell.
First-time buyers now represent "the engine of a significantly reduced market", he added.
"While the overall level of mortgage lending in quarter three shows little change from the previous quarter, the rate of decline of activity that has been so evident over recent quarters now appears to be moderating," he said.
The investment end of the market continued to shrink and represented just 5.7 per cent of all mortgages drawn down in quarter three.
Meanwhile, Rachel Doyle, Director of the Professional Insurance Brokers Association (PIBA) mortgage services, said there was “a freeze on mortgage and other lending that is preventing any element of normality returning to the market".
"Our own recent survey of mortgage brokers showed that almost three-quarters of independent mortgage brokers are finding that between 60% and 80% of mortgage applications are being declined by lenders," she said.