The growth in private-sector credit (PSC) weakened for the first time in five months during November, with adjusted year-on-year growth easing to 29 per cent, from 29.4 per cent in October.
The annual rate fell despite a very high monthly rise of €5.3 billion in PSC in November (excluding lending to non-bank IFSC companies), the third largest monthly rise on record.
The November rise would have been even larger had it not been for a substantial increase of almost €1.5 billion in the securitisation of residential mortgages, which removed them from total PSC, according to Central Bank statistics.
As a result, the unusual situation arose whereby the overall growth rate for PSC fell in November, while growth rates for non-mortgage credit and residential mortgages (inclusive of securitisations) both strengthened.
Focusing on annual rates of increase, residential mortgage credit expanded more quickly than non-mortgage credit during the first half of 2005.
However, since July, the growth of non-mortgage credit has been accelerating, leading to non-mortgage credit significantly outpacing the growth in mortgage debt in recent months. The (adjusted) growth rate in non-mortgage credit rose to 30.5 per cent in November, from 29.9 per cent in October.
The growth rate in residential mortgages (adjusted for securitisations) rose to 26.4 per cent in November, up from 26 per cent in October.
This increase was driven by the largest monthly rise in residential mortgages (adjusted for securitisations) on record at over €2.1 billion (unadjusted increase was just €652 million).
This means that the six largest monthly increases in residential mortgages have all occurred in the last six-months, with the average monthly rise being €1.95 billion.