Mortgage applications jump four-fold over past two years

The volume of mortgage applications has increased four-fold in the past two years, with 90% of inquiries being approved.

This is according to independent Irish financial advice group, Trusted Advisor Group, which claims the tide is changing in the Irish mortgage market and beginning to feed through to the property market.

“We are coming across a lot of people who have been renting for years and who have held off purchasing a property in recent times due to market uncertainty. A lot of people don’t want to wait any longer and feel that now is the time to buy a property of their own.

“The rental market has remained quite strong over the last few years while property prices were plummeting, so people are still shelling out significant sums of money on a monthly basis to rent out properties. With mortgage rates now at an all-time low, in many cases it is now cheaper to repay a mortgage on a monthly basis than it is to rent a similar property,” according to Kevin McNerney, TAG’s mortgage expert.

The impending abolition of mortgage interest relief for first time buyers has also been a factor in people’s decision to apply for a mortgage in recent times, according to TAG.

However, Mr McNerney added that while banks seem to be lending again, they are looking for much more personal information from borrowers than was previously the case.