Landlords 'playing diminishing role in mortgage market'         

Banking industry figures suggest that all types of borrowers for buy-to-let, account for less than 1% of all mortgage drawdowns last year. 

New figures from the banks confirm the diminishing role landlords are playing in taking out mortgages to purchase house rental properties during the Covid-hit year.

The banking industry group, the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said that all types of buy-to-let borrowers accounted for less than 1% of all total mortgage drawdowns last year, as fewer houses were built in a Covid-disrupted market. 

The figures confirm that individual landlords are playing an increasingly smaller role in the mortgage market, with all buy-to-let mortgages slumping from the 20% share of total mortgage drawdowns on the eve of the property collapse following the property bubble, in 2006.

The banking group also forecast that around 21,000 new homes will be built this year — around the same number as in 2020. 

“Covid-19 has had a significant negative impact on the Irish housing and mortgage markets in 2020, however, demand remains strong especially among households less affected by the pandemic and non-household investors," said the BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes. 

“The pandemic will continue to have a negative impact on housing completions in 2021 because construction activity is not expected to fully start again until April 2021, at the earliest, assuming public health developments remain positive," Mr Hayes said.