Mortgage lending falls once again

Mortgage lending by banks fell again, while the growth in home prices has also fallen back, official figures published yesterday showed.

Central Bank lending figures showed that net mortgage loans fell 2% in June from a year earlier, even though home loans in the month had increased by €105m — the fastest pace since the depth of the crisis, in February 2010.

Households, however, continued to pay back more home loans than they borrowed, and corporate lending fell by an annual 5.7%. CSO figures showed that the pace of growth in home prices has eased again.