DAVY VIEW

This morning’s Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) data show mortgage approvals of €823m in January, up 11% on the year. Although this shows the pace of catch-up in approvals slowing, following heavy COVID-19 disruption in mid-2020, they are still registering positive growth despite the third lockdown in January. This is a similar pattern to that of residential transactions, which have held up remarkably well in 2021. The average approval hit a fresh cycle high of €256,000, up 8% on the year, suggesting that house price inflation could even beat our forecast of 3% through 2021.