The default rate among first-time buyers is less than mortgage holders on their second or subsequent homes, which has implications for the Central Bank’s 80% proposed loan-to-value rule.

Recent policy initiatives and market recovery should allow for an air of “modest optimism” around the prospects for sustained SME sector growth, a report suggests.

Banks appear to be lending again according to new figures from the Irish Banking Federation, which show a near 50% increase in mortgages in the three months to July.

Mortgage drawdowns have surged by 49% as rising prices, coupled with a lack of new housing stock, spark fears of a fresh property bubble.

The mortgage market is continuing to show signs of a significant pick-up, despite total lending still lagging far behind normal levels.

Despite recent good news on the economic outlook, SMEs are not demanding more credit to any noticeable extent, according to a new report.

Young people no longer content to rent are putting upward pressure on property prices, a study by the Economic and Social Research Institute has found.

Irish banks will have to undergo regular stress tests as part of the new European Banking Union, one of the region’s top regulators told a conference in Dublin.

The focus of government support for the housing market should be on helping increase the supply of units rather than artificially boosting demand among first-time buyers, according to Conall MacCoille of Davy Stockbrokers.

The number of mortgages taken out in the first quarter of the year increased by over 65%.

A near 6% monthly fall in home loan approvals is “indicative of a dysfunctional market”, an industry representative has stated.

Almost 1,500 mortgages were approved in the three months to the end of February.

The Irish love affair with their flexible friend continues through the recession as the use of debit cards quadrupled while cheques declined.

Debit card usage has more than quadrupled since 2005, with the use of cheques almost halving in the same period.

The cost of a home in Dublin may soon be beyond those on average incomes, a new study shows.

Dublin house prices are set to increase by 10% over the next two years, while prices in the rest of the country will stay in a plus 5% to minus 5% range, according to economist Ronan Lyons.

A new report is raising concerns about a supply shortage of residential properties in Dublin.

The Irish Banking Federation reported a 16% increase in the volume of mortgages approved but brokers claim that the market remains deeply dysfunctional.

Mortgage lending values are expected to remain stable at just over €3bn this year, with growth slowed by a shortage of available properties and the lingering arrears crisis rather than a lack of available credit, one market expert has estimated.

Multi-banked SME debt can be resolved through a single resolution process following a new protocol launched by seven banks.

Prices of homes for sale rose by 5.6% in the past year, but the increase in values was entirely due to a surge in demand for properties in Dublin.

Improved trading conditions have resulted in demand for bank finance among SMEs falling to the lowest level for two years.

A shortage of supply is driving up house prices with sales in Dublin skewing national figures and talk of a recovery premature, according to analysts.

The Government has been called upon to introduce tax measures to encourage older couples whose offspring have left home, to trade down as a way of making more family-sized homes available.

There are calls for a tax incentive scheme to encourage so-called "empty-nesters" to trade down and free up much-needed family homes in Dublin.

The Irish Banking Federation reports there hs been an increase in the number of houses for sale and the number of transactions and mortgage drawdowns in the past year.

The Government’s decision to introduce a bank levy and increase the Dirt tax in the budget could potentially breach EU State AID rules and seriously undermines the sector’s attempts to return to profitability, said the president of the Irish Banking Federation, John Reynolds.

The steps taken to repairthe banking system may temporarily constrain lending, but “we are in a transition to a better world in banking,” said Diego Rodriguez Palenzuela, an adviser to the Directorate Monetary Policy at the ECB.

Deutsche Bank — Europe’s largest financial institution — is creating 700 jobs as part of a major expansion of its Irish operations.

The state-owned German development bank KfW is to contribute funding to the planned Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, part of the remit of which will be to improve funding availability to domestic SMEs.

There has been an increase of more than 40% in the value of mortgages granted in the third quarter of the year, while the number and value of property transactions in Dublin have soared.

A “major intervention” has been called for to address the mortgage crisis, despite new figures showing increases in approval levels.

Three in four home loans in long-term arrears are not being restructured by the banks despite lenders having a range of mortgage solutions to offer borrowers.

Over 1,600 mortgages were approved by Irish banks in September - that is 10% more compared to the same month last year.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has described a deal struck with families who bought apartments in the condemned Priory Hall development as a good and fair outcome.

Nama should intervene to ensure that a house price bubble does not form in the Dublin market, said chief economist with Goodbody Stockbrokers, Dermot O’Leary.

Pre-budget horse-trading between Finance Minister Michael Noonan and his Cabinet colleagues is well underway.

The full weight of the State is needed to bring about a collective solution for the residents of Priory Hall, it was claimed yesterday, as the Government set up talks to sort out a deal for the householders forced to leave their homes two years ago.

A three-week deadline has been set for a resolution to the long-running dispute over the future of the condemned Priory Hall development.

The Irish Mortgage Holders Association has said the latest Central Bank figures show that the volume of mortgages either at risk of arrears, in arrears, or in default at the end of June has hit €46.6bn, or 33.4% of all balances.

A rise in the number of house repossessions is likely, in the coming quarters, as a means of stemming the strategic non-payment of outstanding home loans, Davy Stockbrokers has warned.

Nearly 30,000 struggling householders are battling to cope with more than two years of crippling mortgage debt, official figures have revealed.

Property prices are set to rise by 5%-7% nationally in the second half of the year, a leading housing analyst has predicted.

A leading economist is forecasting an increase of up to 7% in national residential property prices this year.