Mortgage switching approvals drop more than 70% in May
Remortgaging Same 346 For To From Pared Approvals 1,237 The Declined Switching May Year In Last To Or Period
Mortgage approvals declined in May compared to the same period last year following a significant drop in switching activity, new figures from the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) shows.
However, an increase in approvals among first-time buyers bucked the declining trend increasing by more than 20% from 2,640 to 3,170. The total value of these mortgages is €926m. The only other category to increase year-on-year was top mortgage approvals which increased from 277 to 300.
Brian Hayes, chief executive of the BPFI, said the annualised value of first-time buyers' approvals has surpassed €8 billion for the first time since 2011, when the data series started.
“May was the busiest month for first-time buyers approvals in both volume and value terms since the data series began. This represents a very strong pipeline for first-time buyers drawdowns later in the year,” he said.
The figures show that during May, there were 4,928 mortgages approved across all categories—down from 5,355 or 8% from May 2022. The total value of all mortgage approvals during May was close to €1.4bn—a 4% decrease compared to the same period last year.
Remortgaging and switching activity saw the biggest overall decline, dropping 72% from 1,237 to 346 in that time. In May last year, these approvals accounted for 23% of all approvals—now it is 7%.
Mortgages for residential investment letting also declined 33.6% to 79. Mover-purchaser mortgages approvals dropped 4.5% to 1,033.
In the year to the end of May, there have been 56,948 mortgages approved valued at €15.8bn.