The average loan for house-buyers increased by 9.1% to €211,859 in January 2017. The average loan for a first-time buyer is €200,042, up 12.4% YoY.
Mortgage approvals were up 41% in the 3 months to January YoY, with an average of 3,055 mortgages approved per month.
Banks have lent an average of €628m per month for the 3 months to end of January 2017 which is 53.2% more than the same period last year. First time-buyers are accounting for 48.2% of transactions in the housing market, and 47% by value.
Those switching mortgages to another lending provider has increased 40% for the 12 months to end of January 2017.
AIB is the main mortgage lender owning a 35% share of the market. Bank of Ireland is 2nd with about 25% market share. Ulster Bank comes in third place with 18% market share. KBC & Permanent TSB are 4th & 5th with 12% & 10% respectively. Mortgage lending in 2016 was €5.65bn. According to Investec, it is expected mortgage lending will be 25% higher this year than 2016 lending out €7bn worth of mortgages.
The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) have said that the construction industry is growing at a ‘sharp and accelerated’ pace. Residential projects saw an increase in activity for the 2nd month in a row. The PMI for February stands at 57.9 vs 55.7 for January.
New-homes construction reached a 7 year high in January in a further boost for the sector. 1,244 units were completed in January which is a 35% increase YoY, and the highest since January 2010. Submissions for new-home commencements reached 13,334 in the year to January 2017 which is 44% higher than the same period in January 2016. 60% of the new homes are in the GDA.
January saw a 17% YoY decrease in homes available for sale with just 22,100 available. In Dublin there was a marked decrease with just 2,800 properties for sale. The value of residential property was reported to have increased 1.9% during Q1 on a national basis which is 0.6% higher than the same quarter in 2016 when the figure stood at 1.3%.
Annual Inflation for house prices is currently at 9% nationally and 10.2% in Dublin as housing supply cannot meet demand. The excess inflation was also attributed to the Help-To-Buy scheme launch, and the Central Bank rules loosening. The average mortgage for First Time Buyers was up 15.2% in February 2017 compared to February 2016 with the average value of €206,500 vs the previous €179,000. South County Dublin is the most expensive place to purchase a property in Ireland.
Land sales slowed down during the last half of 2016 with development land market down 5% on 2015. Transactions for the whole of 2016 were up 15% YoY with 180 deals worth €220m sale agreed in 2016. 130 transactions were in the GDA.
2016 saw a 3.5% drop in the number of house transactions which is a decrease on 2015. This comes despite there being a chronic shortage of houses in certain areas. Value of sales however were up 7.4% to €11.5bn but volume of sales were down with Dublin seeing a drop of -2.4%, Cork -1.3% and Limerick -9.4%. Sligo, Waterford and Laois all enjoyed an increase in the volume of sales. 32% of all sales are occurred in Dublin in 2016. Cork was second with 11%. The cheapest houses sold in Ireland last year were Knocknarea Villas in Sligo and Elder Grove Trim in Meath which both sold at €6,000.
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