New figures show that although mortgages approvals jumped in July compared with June, they are still well below the level of July last year.

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), led by Brian Hayes (pictured), said 3,397 mortgages were approved in July, up 50% from June, but down 33.8% compared with the same month last year.

July’s mortgages were worth a total of €811 million, up 51.2% from June but down in value more than 30% on an annual basis.

First-time buyers (FTBs) accounted for 1,883 mortgages in July, 55% of the total, while movers represented 22%.

BPFI chief economist Dr Ali Ugur said the year-on-year fall was not unexpected, but he pointed out that the annualised figures were showing smaller declines.

Falls

He said there were 40,090 mortgage approvals worth €9.238 million in the 12 months to the end of July, representing annual falls of 4.1% and 3.7%, in volume and value respectively, compared with the previous 12 months.

Meanwhile, a report from MyHome.ie and Davy shows that asking prices for homes across the country fell by 1.5% during the second quarter of 2020, giving an annual drop of 2.9%.

The report’s author, Davy chief economist Conall MacCoille, said the negative asking price inflation seen throughout the country had to be viewed in the context of far fewer listings compared with a year ago.

“Our price measure is based on just 3,700 new properties listed for sale over the past three months, down 64% from 10,200 one year ago,” he said.

Vendors

“Observed prices were therefore clearly biased towards those vendors willing to put their homes on the market despite the enormous uncertainty of the COVID-19 outbreak,” the economist added.

MyHome.ie managing director Angela Keegan said the significant drop-off in activity in the second quarter meant that a clearer picture of the effect of COVID-19 on the housing market would not be seen until the third quarter.