The value of contactless payments rose by almost 30% year on year in January to €674m as consumers took advantage of the extended 'tapping' limit of €50, according to figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland.
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Significant decline in buy-to-let investors in housing market
Written by Robert McHugh, on 10th Mar 2021. Posted in Property
The latest Housing Market Monitor fourth quarter 2020 published yesterday by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) shows that as the role of individual Buy-to-Let investors continues to decline, accounting for less than 1% of total mortgage drawdowns in 2020, non-household buyers, including private companies, charitable organisations, and state institutions, now account for 23% of all market transactions.
Providing his analysis of the housing market, Brian Hayes, Chief Executive, BPFI further outlines that the supply-demand imbalance in the housing market will continue in 2021 as COVID-19 limits housing supply while demand remains strong especially among households less affected by the pandemic and non-household investors.
The average new mortgage rate in this country was 2.79pc in January.
Although this is down 13 basis points on January 2020 it is still the highest in the Eurozone
The average for the euro area stood at 1.29pc, although the rate varied considerably across countries.
“Ireland had the highest mortgage interest rates across the euro area,” the Central Bank said.
In December, Greece had the distinction of having the most expensive home loans, but now Ireland has gone back on top of the league of shame.
Fixed rate mortgages accounted for 80p of new agreements over the month, according to the Central Bank’s ‘Retail Interest Rates: January 2021’ publication.