Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) has today published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for July 2020. The following are the key elements:

• A total of 3,397 mortgages were approved in July 2020 – first-time buyers (FTBs) were approved for 1,883 mortgages (55% of total volume) while mover purchasers accounted for 750 (22%).
• The number of mortgages approved rose by 50.1% month-on-month and fell by 33.8% compared with the same period last year.
• Mortgages approved in July 2020 were valued at €811 million – of which FTBs accounted for €462 million (57%) and mover purchasers for €196 million (24%).
• The value of mortgage approvals rose by 51.2% month-on-month but fell by 30.2% year-on-year.

There were 2,713 purchase mortgage approvals (FTB, mover purchase and residential investment letting), valued at €671 million in July 2020. Purchase mortgage approval activity fell in volume terms by 35.8% year-on-year and decreased in value terms by 33.2% over the same period.

Speaking on the publication of the data, Dr. Ali Ugur, Chief Economist, BPFI said: “With the reopening of the economy we have seen a significant increase in mortgage approval numbers in July compared to the previous month, however on a year on year basis, approval numbers are still down which is not unexpected.”

“On the other hand, when we look at annualised mortgage approval activity, which is a better indicator of the trend, there were 40,090 mortgage approvals in the twelve months ending July 2020, valued at €9,238 million. Annualised mortgage approval activity to end-July 2020 decreased in volume terms by 4.1% compared with the twelve months ending June 2020 and decreased in value terms by 3.7% over the same period.”

The BPFI Mortgage Approval Reports July 2020 can be viewed on the BPFI website here.