MORE THAN 43,000 mortgages were drawn down in Ireland last year to a total value of €10.5 billion, the highest figures in over a decade. 

The Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said that this is the highest volume of mortgages drawn down since 2009 and the highest overall value since 2008. 

The BPFI today published the latest figures from the Mortgage Drawdowns Report for the last quarter of 2021 and the mortgage approvals report for December.  

In the final quarter of last year, 13,299 new mortgages were drawn down.

This is a 9.4% increase in volume. At a total value of €3.31 billion, it is also a cost increase of 12.3% on the same period in 2020.

First-time buyers continue to account for just over half of mortgages drawn down. 

Brian Hayes, chief executive of the BPFI, said 2021 was a “particularly strong year” for first-time buyers. 

“Looking to the year ahead we anticipate a strong pipeline of mortgage approvals which will be further bolstered by the recent operational flexibility announced to the CBI’s macroprudential rules,” Hayes said in a statement.

“With an increase in housing supply also projected we expect all these factors combined to lead to strong activity in the housing and mortgage markets during 2022.”

53,335 mortgages were approved overall in 2021, with a total value of €13.4 billion.

The BPFI said the number approved in December fell by 22.2% on the month prior and by 3.6% compared to December 2020. 

The Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien outlined to The Journal in December his plans to solve Ireland’s housing crisis. 

He said: “I know people have been despairing, people who’ve been in this space and caught for the last few years with high rents, who are living with their folks, saving every cent they have and still not going to be able to buy a home or rent a home at an affordable rate – that changes next year, it genuinely does.”