Slowdown in mortgage approvals in November
Figures from the main banks show a slowdown in mortgage activity in November last year, with the number of approvals down 3.4% compared with the same month last year.
Banking Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said that its members approved 4,251 mortgages during the month, with just under 60% of these for first-time buyers (FTBs) and just over 20% for mover purchasers.
The number of mortgages approved fell by 11% compared with October and by 3.4% compared with November 2024 last year.
Value falls slightly
Mortgages approved in November were worth more than €1.35 billion – of which FTBs accounted for 60.7% and mover purchasers for just under 24%.
The value of mortgage approvals fell by 12.3% month-on-month and by 0.8% year-on-year.
The figures also showed a jump in switching activity , which rose by 19.4% in volume and by 25% in value compared with November 2024.
11-month figures still strong
BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes said that the most notable slowdown in activity in November was in home-purchase mortgage approvals.
Mortgage approvals for FTBs and mover purchasers dropped by 6.8% in volume and 3.5% compared with November 2024.
Hayes noted, however, that FTB approvals for the first 11 months of 2025 reached their highest levels since the data began in 2011, with over 30,000 approvals valued at almost €10 billion.
“By contrast, mover-purchase approval volumes dropped to 9,634 in the first 11 months of 2025 – the lowest year-to-date level since 2015. Nevertheless, values rose to more than €3.6 billion over the same period, the highest year-to-date values since the data series began,” he added.