The level of mortgage drawdowns is now at its highest since the boomtime of the Celtic Tiger era. Close to 53,000 mortgages were drawn down last year, with a value of more than €14bn, according to the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI). This is the highest number and value of mortgage drawdowns since 2008, the peak of the boom that ended in a property price crash. The number of new mortgages is up 21pc […]
Bank of Ireland said today it will increase interest rates for a number of mortgage and deposit products. It said this follows increases of 2.5% in European Central Bank rates since July of last year. The bank has announced a 0.75% increase for fixed rates on new mortgages – effective from today. It also announced a 0.5% increase for the fixed rates available to existing mortgage customers. This includes customers who are coming to the […]
The main banks here say they will all be passing today’s ECB interest rate hike on to tracker mortgage customers, but variable and fixed rate borrowers will be spared for now. There are around 200,000 tracker mortgages remaining in the country, while there are 130,000 people whose loans are on variable rates. In a statement, Bank of Ireland said its tracker rates will increase by the 0.5% announced by the ECB at lunchtime. “For most customers, this […]
THE European Central Bank announced another hike in its key interest rates in a move that will pile more pain on those with trackers and variable rates. The move is expected to hit those whose mortgages have been sold to vulture funds hardest as they are stuck on variable rates that are the highest in the country. The main refinancing rate of the European Central Bank (ECB), which is directly linked to the interest rate […]
House prices could fall 12pc by the end of the decade if the Government was to meet its housing target and build 35,000 homes a year. To achieve it would require more public money, higher numbers of foreign construction workers and more domestic workers moving from commercial to residential projects, a report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said. “The issue is we do need to increase and find these workers,” said ESRI […]