Continued strong growth in mortgage approvals in May – BPFI
Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for May 2021. The following are the key elements:
- A total of 4,683 mortgages were approved in May 2021 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 2,580 mortgages (55.1% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 1,112 (23.7%).
- The number of mortgages approved rose by 7.4% month-on-month and by 149.2% compared with the same period last year.
- Mortgages approved in May 2021 were valued at €1,160 million – of which FTBs accounted for €643 million (55.4%) and mover purchasers for €325 million (28%).
- The value of mortgage approvals rose by 6.5% month-on-month and by 162.5% year-on-year.
- On an annualised* basis 48,935 mortgage were approved in the twelve months ending May 2021, valued at €11,965 million.
Speaking on the latest figures, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said: “May has proven to be yet another very strong month for mortgage approvals activity, especially for first-time-buyers. And similar to the trend we saw emerge last month we have seen a doubling of activity across many mortgage categories. Again, it is important we view these figures in the context of how the country was operating in May 2021 compared to 12 months earlier. While a number of Covid restrictions were lifted in May, lenders and customers had also adjusted much better to working within the restrictions and this is clearly borne out by the figures.”
“By looking at the annualised figures* we can more accurately assess emerging key trends. In twelve months ending May 2021 there were 48,935 mortgage approvals valued at €11,965. And during this period more loans were approved for home buyers/builders (FTBs and mover purchase combined) than in any twelve-month period since the data series began in 2011 at 38,882. In value terms, approvals for home buyers/building neared €10 billion for the first time at €9,991 million. There are significant figures and very much signal a robust pipeline for drawdown activity later in the year.”
Data Series
All mortgage approvals data from January 2011 onwards is available in Microsoft Excel format (*.xls) in the BPFI Mortgage Approvals report data series. The BPFI Mortgage Approvals report data series since January 2011 is available to download here.
*Annualised figures show the sum of volumes or values in the twelve months ending in that month. Using annualised figures helps us to identify underlying trends.
Note: Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) represents the banking, payments and fintech sector in Ireland. Together with its affiliates, the Federation of International Banks in Ireland, and the Fintech & Payments Association of Ireland, BPFI has 100 member institutions and associates, including licensed domestic and foreign banks and institutions operating in the financial marketplace here.
Contact: Jillian Heffernan, Head of Communications, 087 9016880 or jillian.heffernan@bpfi.ie
