Mortgage lender eyes ‘rich pickings’ in Ireland

A new entrant is eyeing potential “rich pickings” in the Irish mortgage market because home lenders here have failed to cut their standard variable rates, one of the country’s leading mortgage experts has predicted.

Michael Dowling, who chairs the mortgage committee at the Irish Brokers’ Association, said the unnamed new lender has advanced plans to tap key foreign investors to start offering home loans here because they know mortgage rates in Ireland are the most expensive in the eurozone.

The investors will seek a licence from the Central Bank and look to “make a splash” by the end of 2016, offering to undercut — by a significant half a percentage point — the cheapest existing standard variable rates on the Irish market, said Mr Dowling.