The latest lending data from the Banking and Payments Federation this morning shows that the total value of mortgages approved grew by 24% year on year (yoy) in July.
While this is slower than the growth achieved in June (+37% yoy), it represents a healthy rate of increase.
In the three months to July, the total value of mortgage approvals was up 29% yoy. This was driven by growth in volume approved (+18% yoy) as well as growth in average loan size (+9% yoy). The strongest growth continued to come from Re-mortgaging which grew in value by 93% yoy in the 3 months to July.
The strongest growth in transactional mortgage values over the 3-month period came from first-time buyers (27% yoy) and mover purchasers (23% yoy) versus 16% yoy growth in investor mortgages.
According to Goodbody Stockbrokers, "The strong approvals growth in Q2 and into early Q3 augurs well for a pick-up in lending activity in H2 and possibly the first few months of 2017. Though still early, it probably lends credence to the view that the risk bias to our €5.2bn gross new lending figure +(9% yoy) for the full year is positive."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
