Bigger mortgages, lower interest rates

Consumers are paying less interest on their mortgages than other Europeans and are also earning more on their deposits.

Newly published retail interest rate data, from the Central Bank, shows the weighted average interest rate being charged on Irish mortgages amounted to 2.98% in February, the latest month for which figures are available.

That average rate was unchanged from January’s level, but is still 0.44% lower than what it was just five months ago. The average Irish mortgage interest rate also remains significantly lower than the eurozone average, which lies at 3.86%. The difference can largely be explained by the large amount of tracker mortgages in the Irish market, which aredirectly affected by ECB rate movements.