Mortgage approval levels remain strong despite slowdown in January – BPFI
Tuesday 24th February 2026 – Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for January 2026. The following are the key elements:
- A total of 3,034 mortgages were approved in January 2026 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 1,800 mortgages (59.3% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 565 (18.6%).
- The number of mortgages approved fell by 13.4% month-on-month and fell by 10.6% compared with the same period last year.
- Mortgages approved in January were valued at €954 million – of which FTBs accounted for €576 million (60.3%) and mover purchasers for €210 million (22.0%).
- The value of mortgage approvals fell by 14.3% month-on-month and by 6.4% year-on-year.
- Re-mortgage/switching activity fell by 11.4% in volume terms year-on-year and rose by 5.0% in value in the same period.
Commenting on the publication of the latest data, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said: “Our latest report shows that there were more than 3,000 mortgage approvals in January 2026 valued at €954 million. This included 1,800 first-time buyer mortgages valued at €576 million. Approval activity declined overall and in most segments in year-on-year terms in January 2026. It’s worth noting that approvals activity tends to be weakest between December and February. However, mover purchase activity continues to decline with 565 mover purchase mortgage approvals in January 2026, the lowest volume since June 2020.”
He continued: “Looking more broadly at the annualised figures, we see that there were 52,903 mortgage approvals in the twelve months ending January 2026, valued at almost €16.9 billion. This indicates that, despite the recent slowdown, the pipeline for mortgage drawdowns (which reached about 46,000 in 2025) remains strong, reflecting robust mortgage and housing demand.”
“Nevertheless, housing supply remains constrained with market indicators, as well as the slowdown in mover purchase activity, pointing to limited supply of secondhand properties for sale. New housing output looks encouraging for the year ahead, but we will need to see a marked increase in commencement activity in the first half of this year to sustain output beyond 2026. There were only 17,275 housing starts in the twelve months ending January 2026, about half the level in the twelve months ending January 2024.”
The BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report January 2026 is available here.
The BPFI Mortgage Approvals report data series since January 2011 is available to download here.
Ends/
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 120 member institutions and associates, including licensed domestic and foreign banks and institutions operating in the financial marketplace.
Contact: Fiona Murphy, Head of Communications, fiona.murphy@bpfi.ie or Jillian Heffernan, Director of Communications, jillian.heffernan@bpfi.ie
