The number of mortgage approvals for all types of house loans rose by less than 2% in November from a year earlier, banking industry figures show, as lending growth continues to be pegged back by limited new housing supply and affordability.

Housing spokesman Darragh O'Brien said that thousands of apartments had been bought by big funds and struggling first time buyers were left in limbo

The Central Bank may make “some tweaks” to its existing mortgage lending rules — particularly for first-time buyers in Dublin — but wholesale changes are not expected, one analyst has claimed.

MABS, the State-backed Money Advice and Budgeting Service and the Banking and Payments Federation have announced the agreement, saying it will help consumers who are struggling with mortgage debt.

An agreement to help resolve mortgage disputes has been reached between two leading agencies.

The average household income of first-time buyers taking out a mortgage loan in Dublin this year was €89,000, according to a Central Bank report.

Thousands of people who are in danger of losing their home are the “hidden homeless” according to David Hall of the Irish Mortgage Holders Association.

Just under 63,000 Irish mortgages were in arrears at the end of March, new figures from the Central Bank show.

Protections for mortgage holders will dramatically diminish if the sales of non-performing loans to so-called "vulture funds" continues, campaigners have claimed.

A senior official at the Central Bank has stated that the Sinn Féin bill giving mortgage holders a veto on their loans being sold to so-called ‘vulture funds’ “will have potentially severe unintended consequences”.

New mortgage lender Finance Ireland has signalled its plan to make a splash in the market by matching the lowest variable and fixed-rate mortgages from the large banks.

Significant reforms in the mortgage market have been called for after figures reveal that the number of people switching lenders has collapsed in recent years.

They have dropped to less than half of the late 2013 peak.

The interest rate you pay, the type of mortgage that buyers choose, and the possibility of paying off the loan early are all factors to consider when buying a property, writes John Lowe

It may turn out that vulture funds will, indeed, strike the necessary deals with distressed Irish households and write down impossibly underwater mortgages.

Vulture funds give better deals to struggling home-owners than banks do, the Taoiseach has claimed.

Permanent TSB has announced the sale of more than 6,000 non-performing mortgages to Glenbeigh Securities.

Banks have been accused of washing their hands of mortgage problems and of treating borrowers and families like commodities.

The Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation is warning that Ulster Bank’s sale of €1.4bn worth of home loans to US fund Cerberus is evidence that even homeowners who fall behind in their mortgage repayments but engage with their lender can see their loan sold to a vulture fund.

Joe Leogue offers some answers.

The Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has been accused of having a casual attitude to the sale of thousands of Permanent TSB mortgages to a vulture fund.

It follows the €1.3bn sale of nearly 11,000 non-performing loans by Permanent TSB.

Permanent TSB has confirmed the sale of almost 11,000 non-performing mortgages to a vulture fund.

Irish consumers are being warned they are being fleeced over mortgage rates.

Irish mortgage holders are being hit with the highest interest rates in the Eurozone, according to new figures released today.

The main banks have been accused of getting “up to their old tricks” by “manipulating” the system to prevent people accessing a low-interest mortgage scheme.

Up to 27,000 mortgage holders could save themselves more than €10,000 if they switched, according to the Central Bank, which also vowed to crack down on seductive but misleading mortgage adverts from lenders.

It is natural, but not wise, to push the memory of the chaos caused by sub-prime mortgages to the back of a dark cupboard. The greed and stupidity behind that whizz did trans-generation damage to public finances. Despite that it must be hoped the relevant lessons were absorbed — but were they?

The sale of mortgage loan books and the "cancer" of vulture funds means Ireland is walking blindfolded into a massive social crisis, a mortgage campaigner has said.

The Government and Central Bank regulators have been accused of letting down customers after it emerged Irish first-time buyers will pay up to €61,641 more in interest costs over the lifetime of their mortgages than anywhere else in Europe.

Permanent TSB has announced a number of mortgage rate reductions on fixed rates for 3 and 5 years for new business. The reductions will take effect from tomorrow.

The only solution to the country’s deep-seated mortgages arrears problem is for banks to write off debt for households who have faced long-term distress, the country’s leading debt advocate has said, as new figures showed the banks were making slow progress in resolving the home loans crisis.

Update 5.54pm: The Chair of the Oireachtas Finance Committee says Permanent TSB should pass discounts on bad mortgages on to customers.

Almost three quarters of people at risk of losing their homes in repossession cases did not have any legal representation when the case was before the court, according to a new study.

Why should I continue to pay my mortgage if the State is to bail out those who aren’t paying theirs?

State-sponsored sub-prime lending. That is what the Government announced this week and it is a disaster waiting to happen.

The total number of people affected by the tracker mortgage scandal will not go far beyond 30,000, according to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe.

The Central Bank has said it will not change its rules on mortgage lending limits next year.

The Taoiseach said today that people on average wages should be able to afford a mortgage to buy themselves a home.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is to bring forward a range of measures tomorrow aimed at forcing banks to fully compensate thousands of customers wrongfully removed from their tracker mortgages.

Compensation for customers wrongly removed from their tracker mortgages will not be capped, the governor of the Central Bank has said.

Banks involved in the tracker mortgage scandal are expected to make fresh pledges to compensate affected customers after the Government gave company bosses a dressing down over “dragging their feet”.

A “radical culture change” is needed if customer trust in the banks is to be repaired and restored, according to the deputy governor of the Central Bank.

The victims of the tracker scandal found themselves at the mercy of the banks when it was raining cats and dogs, writes Michael Clifford.