Ulster Bank boss: Most first-time buyers won't get a mortgage under new rules

The head of Ulster Bank said most first-time buyers won't be able to get a mortgage under new rules from the Central Bank.

Jim Brown told politicians over half of the first-time buyers who got loans from Ulster Bank this year would not qualify under the new system.

The Central Bank announced plans to limit most buyers to borrowing 80% of the price of a house - and will have to save the rest themselves.

Jim Brown's told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that under those rules, most first-time buyers won't be able to afford a home:

We estimate that 68% of the first-time buyers mortgages approved by Ulster Bank this year would have fallen outside the LTV [Loan-to-Value] and-or loan-to-income criteria," he said.

"An efficient economy and marketplace in a country like Ireland is dependent on a fully-functioning mortgage market."