Half-a-billion in mortgages issued

More than half-a-billion in new mortgages was issued by Irish banks between April and June, up 56% on the first three months of the year, but only a 0.1% increase on the same period last year.

The report by the Irish Banking Federation and PriceWaterhouseCoopers noted that the first quarter is traditionally the weakest quarter of the year, followed by a recovery in the second quarter.

This year was the first year since 2006 that year-on-year growth has been recorded in the second year although the growth was relatively anaemic at 0.1%.