![]() MORTGAGE APPROVALS GREATEST DROP IN MORTGAGES SINCE 2011 The Banking & Payment Federation of Ireland (BPFI) has stated this week that, for the first time since April 2013, mortgage approvals have fallen on an annual basis. The number of mortgages which have been applied for and approved in Q3 2015, declined by the highest amount since 2011. In the three month period ending October 2015, mortgages granted by the major Irish banks and financial institutions fell by 2%. | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||
This decline may be due to the Central Bank mortgage restrictions although, in their report, the Banking & Payment Federation of Ireland said it will be at least summer 2016 before any definite judgement can be arrived at on the impact on the Irish mortgage market of the new, more stringent Central Bank measures. These measures were designed to prevent a repeat of the battle between the major mortgage lenders during the mid 2 000's to gain the largest share of the Irish property based financial market and the former governor of the Central Bank has stated that they are aimed at making another Irish housing bubble impossible. On a related topic, the Central Statistics office has released figures showing that, in the month of October 2015, residential property prices rose by 1.6% nationwide, whilst residential property prices remained up 7.6% on an annual basis. In Dublin residential property prices rose by 1.0% in October. Dublin residential property prices were 4.5% higher than in October 2014. Dublin house prices rose by 1.0% in October whilst Dublin apartment prices increased by 0.8%. Residential Property Price Index October 2015
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