Interest rates on outstanding loans to households for home purchase stood at 2.99 per cent at the end of last November, according to figures published by the Central Bank yesterday. This was broadly stable, if slightly down, on the rates recorded at the beginning of the year.

The corresponding interest rate reported by all credit institutions resident in the euro area was 3.59 per cent.

According to the Central Bank, the reason Irish retail mortgage rates are lower than the euro area average is because of the “higher proportion of tracker and variable rate mortgage products in the domestic market” compared to the euro area norm.

Tracker and variable mortgage interest payments are linked to the base rate set by the European Central Bank. The base rate remains at historic lows.

In the euro as a whole fixed rate mortgages are more common.

The weighted average interest rate on all outstanding loans to non financial businesses was 2.96 per cent at the end of November, the same figures show.

The equivalent euro area weighted average interest rate for businesses was 3.37 per cent.