Uncertainty for Irish mortgage households as ECB ponders when to start cutting interest rates

Some ECB officials caution against sanctioning rate cuts but others have made more dovish predictions

Some 70,000 fixed-rate mortgages of a total 430,000 Irish households on fixed-rate home loans will face refinancing at sharply higher rates this year.

Financial planning for Irish household mortgage holders and for businesses has got a lot more uncertain as European Central Bank hawks push back against the prospects for early cuts in interest rates, mortgage brokers and analysts have said. 

Despite eurozone inflation having plunged from a record 10.6% in late 2022 to 2.8% last month and expected to fall towards the ECB's 2% goal this year, ECB officials have signalled out core inflation pressures and potential wage-driven inflation, in particular, for their caution against sanctioning rate cuts. However, other ECB officials have made more dovish predictions.