Pent-up demand drives mortgage approvals; support for 8,000 accounts on expired payment breaks

At almost 4,000, the number of mortgage loan approvals was down from November but were nonetheless up by almost 40% from December  2019. File picture: iStock

Pent-up demand for home loans following the first two of the Covid-19 lockdowns appears to have continued to drive up demand for mortgages late into 2020, with loan approvals up sharply in December from a year earlier, new figures from the banks suggest. 

At almost 4,000, the number of mortgage loan approvals was down from November but were nonetheless up by almost 40% from December 2019, according to the figures from the business group, Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, or BPFI.