Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for November 2021.

The following are the key figures:

• A total of 4,959 mortgages were approved in November 2021 – some 2,662 were for FTBs (53.7%) of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 1,172 (23.6%).
• The number of mortgages approved in November rose by 8.6% month-on-month and fell by 4.6% year-on-year. 
• Mortgages approved in November 2021 were valued at €1,283 million – of which FTBs accounted for €690 million (53.8%) and €354 million by mover purchasers (27.6%).
• The value of mortgage approvals rose by 7.9% month-on-month and by 0.2% year-on-year.
• Annualised* mortgage approval activity to end-November 2021 decreased in volume terms by 0.44% compared with the twelve months ending October 2021 and increased in value terms by 0.01% over the same period.
• Re-mortgage or mortgage switching activity rose by 20.8% and 25.8% in volume and value terms, respectively, when compared with November 2020. The volume of approved mortgage switches has more than doubled since November 2017 with 7,243 approvals valued at more than €1.8 billion in the twelve months ending November 2021.

Speaking on the publication of the data, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI said: “Our latest mortgage figures show a slowdown in approval volumes on a year-on-year basis but this was the highest approvals values in November since the data series began in 2011. Mortgage approval activity remains close to historically high levels. On an annualised basis, more than 53,000 mortgages worth some €13.4 billion were approved in the twelve months ending November 2021.

“Looking ahead, the fourth quarter of the year is generally the strongest quarter for mortgage drawdowns and with a strong pipeline of mortgage approvals the outlook is very positive for a strong end to the year.”

BPFI