Mortgage approvals jump by 98.3% 12 months on from first lockdown

Brian Hayes, Chief Executive of the BPFI said April was a strong month, especially for first-time buyers. File picture: PA

The value of mortgages approved in April was the highest value for the month since records began in 2011.

Some 4,362 mortgages valued at €1,089bn were approved in April 2021, according to a Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) report.

The number of mortgages approved rose by 98.3% compared with the same period last year when the country was in the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Month-on-month, mortgage approvals rose by 0.9%.

Brian Hayes, Chief Executive of the BPFI, said April was a strong month, especially for first-time buyers.

First-time buyers were approved for 2,389 mortgages in April 2021, marking just more than half the total number approved.

“Compared with April last year, when the country was experiencing its first lockdown, there has been a doubling of activity across most mortgage categories during April 2021,” said Mr Hayes.

“It is important we look at the figures in the context of how different those two lockdowns have been and take into account how well lenders and customers have adapted in the intervening 12 months to working within Level 5 restrictions.” 

Annualised figures show 46,131 mortgages were approved in the twelve months ending April 2021, valued at €11.2bn.

“Significantly this was the highest value since our mortgage approvals data series began in 2011.

“This was driven mainly by FTB approvals, which jumped to almost €6.2bn in the twelve months ending April 2021, up 5.9% on the twelve months ending March 2021.

“This was also more than double the level in the twelve months ending October 2016 (€3 billion). These trends point to a solid pipeline for drawdown activity later in the year.”