Loans for house purchase continue to decline

Household loan repayments exceeded drawdowns by €283 million during April, according to new figures released by the Central Bank.

This follows a monthly decline of €32 million in March.

Loans for house purchase, which accounted for 82 per cent of total household loans, declined at an annual rate of 2.6 per cent, while outstanding lending for consumption and other purposes declined by 4.5 per cent year-on-year.

In the case of loans for house purchase, repayments exceeded drawdowns by €2.1 billion over the 12 months to end-April. Repayments also exceeded drawdowns by €937 million for non-housing loans over the same period.

The Central Bank said the outstanding amount of loans to Irish households decreased by 3 per cent year-on-year in April.

Non-financial corporation (NFC) loan repayments exceeded drawdowns by €405 million in April 2015. This follows a decline of slightly over €1 billion in March 2015.

Meanwhile, Irish household deposits increased substantially by €757 million in April, and were €1.1 billion higher in the year.

NFC deposits grew by €1.4 billion in April, following a decrease of €248 million in March.

Merrion Stockbrokers economist Alan McQuaid said many Irish consumers/households are still burdened with a huge level of outstanding debt from the “Celtic Tiger” era and are in no hurry to add to that load.

He said mortgage approvals are on the rise but the stricter lending rules from the Central Bank as regards house purchases will likely have a negative impact on borrowing.

“Even with a pick-up in activity, overall bank lending is forecast to remain fairly subdued in 2015, and still well below what the economy needs for sustainable growth in the long-run,” he added.

Credit institutions’ borrowings from the Central Bank as part of Eurosystem monetary policy operations decreased by €5.7 billion in April 2015. The outstanding stock of these borrowings was €14.6 billion at end-April.