Almost €16 billion worth of mortgages were approved in the 12 months ending January 2023, according to new figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland.
This was the highest value of annualised approvals recorded since BPFI started collecting the data in 2011.
In total, 58,000 mortgages were approved within those 12 months.
In January 2023 alone, 3,697 mortgages were approved.
First-time buyers accounted for over 51% of these approvals, while mover purchasers accounted for just over 23%.
The number of mortgages approved last month rose by 1.7% month-on-month and by 2.1% compared with the same period last year.
Mortgages approved in January were valued at just over €1 billion – of which FTBs accounted for €520m and mover purchasers for €278m.
The value of mortgage approvals rose by 1.9% month-on-month and by 8.9% year-on-year.
Non-purchase mortgage activity, which includes switching and top-ups, grew by 2.1% year on year in volume terms to 877 and by 4.6% year on year to €205m in the same period.