DAVY VIEW

This morning’s Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) data show mortgage drawdowns of €2.9bn in Q1 2023, up 14% on the year. Mortgage approvals for house purchase in March were very strong, up 22% to €1.2bn. Notably, the average approval for house purchase hit a fresh record high of €292,300 despite ECB rate hikes, suggesting that the loosening of the Central Bank’s mortgage lending rules is having an impact. The overall impression from the data is that housing demand remains robust.