Getting harder to get a home

The average age of home mortgage borrowers continues to increase – with the number of first-time buyers aged 30 or under more than halving in the last 16 years…falling from 60% in 2004 to just 27% in 2020.

That’s according to a new detailed mortgage report published by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, the umbrella group for the banking, payments and fintech sector in Ireland.

The Mortgage Market Profile report, which shows an overall recovery in the current mortgage market back to 2019 levels following Covid-19, looks at a range of factors including a regional breakdown of the market, the age profile of borrowers as well as a comparison of mortgage repayments by customer, property and region.

Highlighting the recovery which has been seen in the market this year following the Covid pandemic, the report shows drawdowns for homeowners – both First Time Buyers and mover purchasers – rose by 23% year on year over the first half of this year to more than 14,000, similar to the level of drawdowns in H1 2019.

FTBs accounted for 67.5% of drawdowns in the first six months of 2021, while FTBs buying existing properties accounted for 47.4% of the total.

Looking at the regional breakdown of the mortgage market, Dublin leads the way with 31.3% of home purchase mortgages in the twelve months ending June 2021, while commuter counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow each had at least 4% of the national market.

Outside Dublin and the commuter belt, Cork is the largest single market with 11.7% of mortgages, followed by Galway and Limerick with 4.8% and 3.8% each.

Self-builds accounted for 56% of home mortgages secured on new properties in Galway in H1 2021. More than half of First Time Buyer and mover purchase mortgages were for detached houses/bungalows, at 51% and 67%, respectively.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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