Mortgage rates below EU average

Mortgage interest rates were significantly lower than the eurozone average, in January, according to latest figures from the Central Bank.

The most recent monthly retail interest rate statistics, covering January and published yesterday, show that the average interest rate on outstanding mortgage loans, with an original maturity of over five years — which account for 99% of all outstanding mortgages in the Irish market — was 2.98%, as of the end of January; having fallen by 44 basis points since the end of last September.

The figure is significantly lower than the mean mortgage interest rate for the eurozone, which stood at 3.87% at the end of January.