• Over 1,600 mortgages approved in June to the value of €280m

• Key category of approvals for house purchases up 8.8% on last year

Homeownership

The latest figures from the IBF Mortgage Approval Report, published today for the month of June, show an annual increase of 7.3% in the level of mortgages approved by mainstream lenders.

With 92% of new approvals now accounted for by house purchases, the level of approvals in this key segment also showed a year-on-year increase, rising 8.8% on the same period in 2012; and the average mortgage approval value for the purposes of house purchase was €174,675 – down by 2.6% on June 2012.

In total, the report shows that 1,652 mortgages were approved by lenders here in June to the value of €280 million.

Commenting on the findings, founder of the Irish Financial Review, Mr. Frank Conway said that “…while the latest figures demonstrate an improvement in mortgage lending also shows how fragile the market remains”.

“Banks continue to be in a bad place, especially in light of growing levels of mortgage arrears. At the current rate of approvals and allowing for natural falloff, the total number of mortgage granted in 2013 is unlikely to exceed the number of mortgages granted for house purchase in 1973, exactly 40-years ago” said Mr. Conway.

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