Almost €14.5 billion worth of mortgage drawdowns in 2025, the highest annual drawdown values since 2008 – BPFI
- First-time buyers (FTBs) continue to drive the mortgage market, accounting for 60% of the volume and 61% of the value of mortgage drawdowns in 2025
- Mover purchase mortgages bucked the broader drawdown trend with volumes at the lowest level since 2014
- New properties (including self-builds) accounted for 41% of the volume and 43% of the value of FTB mortgage drawdowns in 2025, the highest shares since 2009
- A total of 53,264 mortgages were approved in 2025 valued at more than €16.9 billion
Wednesday 28th January 2026 – Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Drawdowns Report for Q4 2025 and the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for December 2025.
The following are the key figures from the Mortgage Drawdowns Report for Q4 2025:
- A total of 13,593 new mortgages to the value of €4,324 million were drawn down by borrowers during the fourth quarter of 2025.
- This represents an increase of 4.5% in volume and 9.5% in value on the corresponding fourth quarter of 2024.
- A comparison with the previous quarter (Q3 2025) shows increases of 8.1% in volume and 8.8% in value.
- First-time buyers (FTBs) remained the single largest segment by volume (61.6%) and by value (62.7%).
- Re-mortgage/switching volumes and values increased by 33.9% and 52.1% year on year respectively.
- A total of 46,358 mortgages were drawn down in 2025 valued at almost €14.5 billion. Drawdown volumes rose by 7.7% year on year while values rose by 15.2%.
In addition, BPFI also published today the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for December 2025:
- A total of 3,504 mortgages were approved in December 2025 – some 2,095 were for FTBs (59.8% of total volume), while mover purchasers accounted for 669 (19.1%).
- The number of mortgages approved in December fell by 17.6% month-on-month and by 2.4% year-on-year.
- Mortgages approved in December 2024 were valued at €1,114 million – of which FTBs accounted for €674 million (60.5%) and €251 million by mover purchasers (22.5%).
- The value of mortgage approvals fell by 17.7% month-on-month and rose by 1.1% year-on-year.
- Re-mortgage/switching activity rose by 7.8% year on year in volume terms and by 22.3% in value in the same period.
- A total of 53,264 mortgages were approved in 2025 valued at more than €16.9 billion. Approval volumes rose by 3.8% year on year while values rose by 10.3%.
Speaking on the publication of the reports, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said: “Our latest mortgage data, which provides an annual picture for 2025, shows steady growth in activity in the 12 months to the end of 2025 with drawdown volumes up 7.7% year on year to 46,358 and values up 15.2% to almost €14.5 billion, the highest annual drawdown values since 2008. First-time buyers (FTBs) continue to drive the mortgage market, accounting for 60% of the volume and 61% of the value of mortgage drawdowns in 2025. FTB volumes rose by 5.4% to 27,652 mortgages, the highest drawdown volumes since 2008 while values increased by 13% year on year to more than €8.8 billion, the highest value since the drawdowns data series began in 2003. By contrast, mover purchase mortgages bucked the broader drawdown trend with volumes dropping to 8,782, the lowest level since 2014.”
Looking more closely at property types, Mr Hayes continued: “A rising share of FTB mortgages were drawn down on new properties (including self-builds) in 2025, accounting for 41% of the volume with and 43% of the value of FTB mortgages, the highest shares since 2009. Comprising 11,343 FTB mortgage drawdowns valued at more than €3.8 billion, these are the highest levels since 2007. While the number of FTB mortgages on secondhand properties fell for the second year in a row, the value of those mortgages exceeded €5 billion (€5,019 million) for the first time since that data series began in 2005.”
“Meanwhile, there was positive momentum in the switching market with the value of drawdowns increasing by 57.3% in 2025. At almost €1.7 billion, mortgage switching drawdowns reached their second highest level* since 2008. Top-up activity – including top-ups on existing mortgages as well as mortgages on residential properties that were previously unmortgaged – has also increased significantly in recent quarters with 3,280 top-up drawdowns valued at €463 million in 2025. This is the highest level since 2010 but well below the levels in the mid-2000s.”
Reflecting on mortgage approvals for 2025, Mr. Hayes continued: “Mortgage approval activity also remained strong in 2025 with the value of approvals rising by 10.3% in 2025 to more than €16.9 billion, the highest value since the approvals data series began in 2011. The volume of mortgage approvals rose to 53,264, up 3.8% on the same period, the second highest since the data series began.”
Mr. Hayes concluded: “Looking ahead at 2026, we expect continued strong demand in the housing and mortgage markets. Potential mortgage output for 2026 looks positive, evident from the solid growth in mortgage approvals activity. In the short term, housing output also looks encouraging for the year ahead. However, a significant increase in the commencement activity in the first half of this year will be required to sustain output beyond 2026, given the fact that commencements of about 16,500 last year were at their lowest levels since 2016 and half the levels observed in 2023.”
The BPFI Mortgage Drawdowns report is available to download here.
The BPFI Mortgage Approvals report is available to download here.
Ends/
* The second highest after 2022 when there were 52,634 drawdowns and 58,276 approvals as ECB rate changes prompted a surge in switching.
Data Series:
Mortgage drawdown data from Q1 2005 onwards is available in Microsoft Excel XLS format in the BPFI Mortgage Drawdowns report data series. Download the BPFI Mortgage Drawdowns Report time series here.
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 is available to download here.
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 over 125 member institutions and associates, including licensed domestic and foreign banks and institutions operating in the financial marketplace here.
Contact: Fiona Murphy, Head of Communications, fiona.murphy@bpfi.ie or Jillian Heffernan, Director of Communications, jillian.heffernan@bpfi.ie.
