In the fourth quarter of 2019, there were 12,259 new mortgages worth €2,768 million drawn down, an increase of 1.2 per cent in volume and five per cent in value on the previous year, the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) said.

This also marked a 3.9 per cent increase in volume and 4.9 per cent increase in value compared with the previous quarter.

First-time buyers remained the single largest segment by volume (52 per cent) and by value (53 per cent).

A total of 2,964 mortgages were approved in December 2019, of which some 1,531 (51.7 per cent) were for first-time buyers and 763 (25.7 per cent) were for mover purchasers.

The number of mortgages approved rose by 1.9 per cent year-on-year but fell by 29.1 per cent compared with the previous month, reflecting seasonal trends.

Mortgages approved in December 2019 were valued at €696 million, of which FTBs accounted for €362 million (52 per cent) and mover purchasers accounted for €204 million (29.4 per cent).

The value of mortgage approvals rose by 6.1 per cent year-on-year but fell by 27.5 per cent month-on-month, again due to seasonal factors.