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25 May 2023: Avant Money is reducing the rate on its One Mortgage loan to as low as 3.95%. The One Mortgage lets you peg your interest rate for the full term of your mortgage.

The lender is increasing some of its short term fixed rate mortgages, in line with other Irish lenders, who have been steadily increasing rates since last summer.

23 May 2023: Wholesale electricity prices dropped by over 42% last month, compared to April 2022.

Although CSO stats show prices have dropped significantly, they are still at historically high levels. In 2020, the wholesale price of electricity in Ireland was approx €40 per MWh (megawatt-hour). It dropped from its peak of €400 per MWh to €126.

The price drop will take its time to affect customers though, as energy companies usually buy energy in bulk and set prices for 1-2 years.

12 May 2023: Finance Ireland is the first lender to respond to the latest Central Bank rate rise. Finance Ireland’s variable rates will increase by 0.25% on Monday June 12th, for existing and new borrowers.

This will push the non-lender’s current rates to between 6% and 6.4%, depending on the loan to value.

10 May 2023: After a brief dip last month, the Central Bank of Ireland reports that mortgage interest rates are moving up again.

The average rate on new mortgages in March rose to 3.54%, up from 2.92% in February, and the average interest rate on new fixed rate mortgages, which make 89% of the total new mortgage agreements, increased to 3.44%.

Although the European Central Bank has pushed up rates by 3.75% since July, the main Irish banks have only increased their fixed rates by up to 2% - with variable rates rising even more slowly.

12 April 2023: The latest figures from the Central Bank of Ireland reveal average interest rates on new mortgages fell slightly in February from 2.93% to 2.92%, bucking the trend of rising rates across the eurozone.

The latest round of figures also shows a strong Irish mortgage market, with a 40% increase in new mortgage agreements compared to January and a 69% annual increase.

31 March 2023: Bank of Ireland is the latest lender to push up fixed rate mortgages by 0.5%.

The announcement follows the European Central’s Bank’s steady rate hikes since July of last year. It will affect all new customers, those coming to the end of their current fixed rate who want to re-fix, or variable rate mortgage holders who want to move to a fixed rate.

Those who have a mortgage approved with the bank can avail of current rates if they draw it down by May 5th.

29 March 2023: Irish house prices fell by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2023. It’s the first time in a decade there’s been a drop in the first quarter of the year, according to property price website Daft.ie.

The national price drop follows a surge in interest rates and the cost of living, and the figure is a stark contrast to the double-digit growth of 2022.

But prices are still 2.7% higher vs the same period of 2022 and although supply has increased by 30% to 13,000, it’s still significantly lower than 2019, when it stood at 24,400 homes.