Mortgage lending down 53% on last year

MORTGAGE lending has halved, with an average of just 36 approved per day in the first three months of the year.

This compares to 519 approvals a day at the height of the boom in the first quarter of 2006.

Figures from the Irish Banking Federation (IBF) show that in the first quarter of this year 3,259 mortgages were issued, to the total value of €577 million.