€4.7bn jump in household savings ‘driven by mortgage lending rules’

A huge annual surge of over €4.7bn in household savings reveals the challenge facing young buyers because of the year-old Central Bank mortgage lending rules, Savills estate agent has claimed.

CSO figures showing that gross savings leapt last year to over €9.1bn from €4.4bn in 2014, show the mortgage lending rules are helping push first-time buyers and their parents “to save harder for housing deposits”, said Savills Ireland research director John McCartney.

“Since the start of 2015, new mortgage rules mean that home buyers can borrow less,” Mr McCartney said. “Therefore, they have to save bigger deposits. In this context, it is not surprising to see a rise in household savings.