According to the Irish Independent today:
“The rise in the volume of first-time buyers has pushed up the overall number approved for a mortgage. New figures show that almost 4,200 mortgages to the value of €960m were approved in November. The Banking and Payments Federation said the strongest growth was evident with first-time buyers, where the number of mortgages was up 8.6pc on the year.”
This is all very true but I feel the 20% deposit for the trader upper market has slowed this end of the market greatly and something needs to be done to help buyers trading up to a larger home!