New mortgage lending plunges

THE value of new mortgages issued during the first three months of this year fell 37% on the same period last year to an historic low, according to the latest figures.

The first of the quarterly Mortgage Market Profiles from the Irish Banking Federation (IBF) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to be released this year shows that 7,000 new mortgages, with a combined value of €1.22 billion, were issued in the first quarter of 2010. The first quarter of 2009 saw just shy of 11,000 new mortgages issued, with a combined value of €1.99bn. That means the year-on-year value decline for first quarter mortgage lending amounted to 39%.

Despite the continued fall in mortgage activity, the overall rate of decline is continuing to fall, as it has done for the past three quarters.