Irish Life & Permanent lending up 50% so far this year

Irish Life & Permanent has seen a surge in lending for the first six months of 2006 and expects the final increase to be almost 50% over the first half of 2005, the bank said today.

The lendings hike is being driven largely by mortgages, the value of which is expected to top €4bn in the first six months of the year, compared to €2.5bn for the same period last year.