An overview of Irish Mortgage Lending in 2018

The Central Bank of Ireland has today published data and commentary on new lending under the macroprudential mortgage measures in 2018. The key findings are:

• A total of 39,495 loans were originated by seven lending institutions in 2018, with a value of €8.9 billion.
• The average loan-to-value (LTV) and loan-to-income for both First-Time-Buyers (FTBs) and Second-and-Subsequent-Buyers (SSBs) was relatively unchanged year on year.
• The average LTV for FTBs was 80 per cent in 2018 and the average LTI was 3.1. The corresponding figures for 2017 were 79.7 and 3.0 respectively.
• The average LTV for SSBs was 66.8 per cent compared to 67.1 per cent in 2017 and the average LTI was 2.6 (2.5 in 2017).
• Regarding allowances to exceed the LTV or LTI limits, 17 per cent of the value of FTB lending had an allowance to exceed the LTI limit of 3.5. Less than 1 per cent of the value of FTB lending originated above the 90 per cent LTV limit.
• For SSBs, 7 per cent of the value of SSB lending had an allowance to exceed the LTI limit and 16 per cent of the value of SSB lending originated above the LTV limit of 80 per cent.
• Allowances were allocated to borrowers in all quarters of 2018.

This overview of new lending in 2018 can be found on the Central Bank website here.