The number of mortgages approved in January fell by 10.6% compared to the same period last year, according to new figures.
In a report published this morning by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), data revealed that 3,034 mortgages were approved in the first month of 2026.
This represents a month-on-month decrease of 13.4% in volume and a 14.3% drop in value.
First-time buyers accounted for the majority of the activity, with 1,800 mortgages approved for the cohort. This represented 59.3% of the total volume and 60.3% of the total value, amounting to €576 million.
“Our latest report shows that there were more than 3,000 mortgage approvals in January 2026 valued at €954 million,” said Brian Hayes, Chief Executive of the BPFI.
“This included 1,800 first-time buyer mortgages valued at €576 million. Approval activity declined overall and in most segments in year-on-year terms in January 2026.”
Hayes noted that approval activity traditionally reaches its weakest point between the months of December and February.
“However, mover purchase activity declined with 565 mover purchase mortgage approvals in January 2026,” Hayes said.
“Looking more broadly at the annualised figures, we see that there were 52,903 mortgage approvals in the twelve months ending January 2026, valued at almost €16.9 billion.”
The BPFI chief suggested that the pipeline for drawdowns remains strong despite the recent slowdown.
“This indicates that, despite the recent slowdown, the pipeline for mortgage drawdowns (which reached about 46,000 in 2025) remains strong, reflecting robust mortgage and housing demand,” Hayes said.
“Nevertheless, housing supply remains constrained with market indicators, as well as the slowdown in mover purchase activity, pointing to limited supply of secondhand properties for sale.”
The report also highlighted concerns regarding the rate of new housing starts over the last year.
“New housing output looks encouraging for the year ahead, but we will need to see a marked increase in commencement activity in the first half of this year to sustain output beyond 2026,” Hayes said.
“There were only 17,275 housing starts in the twelve months ending January 2026, about half the level in the twelve months ending January 2024.”
The data shows that while first-time buyer activity remains the primary driver of the market, mover purchasers accounted for just 18.6% of the total volume in January. Re-mortgage and switching activity also saw a volume decline of 11.4% compared to the previous year, though the value of those mortgages rose by 5.0%.
Current market indicators suggest that the supply of secondhand properties remains limited, impacting the ability of existing homeowners to move. Housing commencements have slowed significantly from previous years, with the 17,275 starts recorded in the twelve months to January 2026 representing a sharp decrease from levels seen in 2024.