Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for August 2021. The following are the key elements:

• A total of 4,572 mortgages were approved in August 2021 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 2,462 mortgages (53.8% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 1,181 (25.8%).
• The number of mortgages approved fell by 9.2% month-on-month and rose by 18% compared with the same period last year.
• Mortgages approved in August 2021 were valued at €1,160 million – of which FTBs accounted for €622 million (53.6%) and mover purchasers for €351 million (30.3%).
• The value of mortgage approvals fell by 9.6% month-on-month and by 22.6% year-on-year.
• On an annualised* basis, 54,208 mortgage were approved in the twelve months ending August 2021, valued at €13,391 million.

Speaking on the latest figures, Ali Uğur, Chief Economist, BPFI said: “Approvals activity often peaks during the summer but the latest mortgage approvals for August show continued growth compared with 2020, especially for FTB mortgages. In total almost €1.2 billion in mortgages were approved, 22.6% more than in August 2020. These were the highest volumes and values in August since the data series began.”

“Looking at the annualised figures* which allows us to more accurately assess emerging key trends, there were 54,208 mortgage approvals in the twelve months ending August 2021, valued at almost €13.4 billion – also the highest volume and value since the data series began. The annualised figures reached new highs in each of the FTB, mover purchase and re-mortgage or switcher segments**.”

“These are significant figures and very much signal a robust pipeline for drawdown activity later in the year.”

BPFI