First-time buyer drawdown volumes reach highest Q2 level since 2007, despite overall moderation in activity
- New properties accounted for over a third of home mortgage (FTB and mover purchase) drawdowns in Q2 2024
- FTBs accounted for over 83% of home mortgage drawdowns on new properties compared with 71% of home mortgages on second-hand properties
Monday 29th July 2024 – Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Drawdowns Report for Q2 2024 and the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for June 2024.
The following are the key figures from the Mortgage Drawdowns Report for Q2 2024:
- A total of 10,110 new mortgages to the value of €2,854 million were drawn down by borrowers during the second quarter of 2024.
- This represents an increase of 2.2% in volume and 3.3% in value on the corresponding second quarter of 2023.
- A comparison with the previous quarter (Q1 2024) shows an increase of 20.1% in volume and 21.0% in value.
- First-time buyers (FTBs) remained the single largest segment by volume (62.3%) and by value (63.9%).
- Re-mortgage/switching volumes and values fell by 6.9% and 14.9% year on year respectively.
In addition, BPFI also published today the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for June 2024:
- A total of 4,480 mortgages were approved in June 2024 – some 2,740 were for FTBs (61.2% of total volume), while mover purchasers accounted for 980 (21.9%).
- The number of mortgages approved in June fell by 1.7% month-on-month and by 6% year-on-year.
- Mortgages approved in June 2024 were valued at €1,341 million – of which FTBs accounted for €841 million (62.8%) and €354 million by mover purchasers (26.4%).
- The value of mortgage approvals fell by 1.8% month-on-month and by 1.1% year-on-year.
- Re-mortgage/switching activity rose by 24.3% year-on-year in volume terms and by 24.4% in value in the same period.
Speaking on the publication of the reports, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said: “Our latest mortgage data shows that first-time buyers (FTBs) continue to dominate the market, with FTB drawdown volumes reaching their highest Q2 level since 2007 at 6,300. This is despite an overall moderation in activity across the market. While drawdown volumes in Q2 grew overall by 2.2% year on year and FTBs grew by 5.5%, mover purchase drawdown volumes fell by 3.1% during the same period. This is the seventh consecutive quarter in which mover purchase drawdowns volumes have fallen in year-on-year terms.”
Looking at property types, Mr. Hayes continued: “New properties (including self-builds) accounted for over a third (34.3%) of home purchase mortgage drawdowns in Q2 2024, up from 30.4% in Q2 2023. FTB mortgages on new properties increased by 19.2% to 2,404 and in fact accounted for over 83% of home mortgage drawdowns on new properties, indicating strong momentum on both new home building and government FTB incentives.”
“In contrast, drawdown volumes on secondhand properties decreased by 2.6% and the number of FTB mortgages on second-hand properties fell by 1.5%, accounting for 71% of mortgage drawdowns on second-hand properties. This may reflect the slowdown in mover purchaser activity and a more limited supply in the second-hand market. There were just 14,434 existing housing sales in the first five months of 2024, according to the Central Statistics Office, the lowest year-to-date figures since 2021.”
Mr. Hayes concluded: “Looking at our latest approvals figures, which we also published today, approval volumes fell by 6% year on year reflecting decline in both FTB and mover purchase segments, but it was still the third strongest June for FTB approval volumes since the data began in 2011 pointing to a robust pipeline for FTB drawdowns in the months ahead.”
The BPFI Mortgage Drawdowns Q2 2024 report is available to download here.
The BPFI Mortgage Approvals June 2024 report is available to download here.
Ends/
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, 087 9740046, fiona.murphy@bpfi.ie.
