Mortgage lending in September grew at its slowest pace in three years amid rising borrowing costs and concerns about the property slowdown.
According to figures released today by the Central Bank the value of residential mortgages increased by €1.4 billion, representing an annual rise of 16.1 per cent down from 17 per cent in August.
The monthly increase in mortgage lending was €1.2 billion, the second lowest to date this year. The rise for the first nine months of this year was €12.7 billion, down nearly 30 per cent when compared with the same period last year.
In its statement the Bank said that since January this year the rate of mortgage lending had fallen by around 1 percentage point each month and that this was again evident in September.
The European Central Bank has imposed eight interest-rate increases over the last two years, leading to a doubling of borrowing costs.
The rate of increase in non-mortgage credit also continued to decline, with an adjusted annual rate of 24.5 per cent in September, from 25 per cent in August, the Bank said.
Lending for term or revolving loans remained strong last month, growing by €2.6 billion and this category of lending has grown by around €1.8 billion each month during this year to date, according to the Bank.