Central Bank bulletin – Optimism despite high debt levels

IT would be hard to exaggerate the need for caution when it comes to the risky realm of personal borrowing, but this advice takes on special relevance now that Ireland’s level of household debt is soaring at over three times the European average.

Driven up by the crazy mortgage levels which have plagued hard-pressed homebuyers since 1999, it does not require a crystal ball to predict this massive growth in private sector credit cannot go on indefinitely.

That’s the blunt warning in the spring bulletin of the Central Bank, which includes a 10-year study of the growth of private sector credit in Ireland showing how we compare with the rest of Europe.