Our low mortgage rate trend ‘will not last’

IRISH mortgage holders’ interest rates have moved from the second most expensive in the Eurozone to the third lowest in just a year.

But the new trend is not expected to last, consumer experts have warned.

Irish mortgage rates remained at their lowest level on record in November, while the rest of the Eurozone has seen rates rise dramatically over the past year.

At 2.57% in November, the average interest rate on a new mortgage in

Ireland was unchanged from the rate recorded in October.

Ireland and Greece were the only countries in the Eurozone not to see their mortgage rates rise compared to the previous month.

Ireland now has the third cheapest mortgage rates in the Eurozone, beating countries including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and even Finland, which until recently had the lowest rates in the Eurozone at well under 1%.

France now has the lowest rate at 1.97%, while Latvia has the highest at 4.57%.

The Eurozone average is 2.84%, its highest level since at least August 2017, and over double the rate this time last year.

However, November is likely to mark the lowest point in the current mortgage rate cycle for Ireland for several years to come, one expert predicted.

Daragh Cassidy of Bonkers.ie explained: ‘This is because in recent weeks, AIB has raised its fixed rates by one percentage point, Permanent TSB has raised its fixed rates by up to 0.9 percentage points, Bank of Ireland by 0.25. And Avant Money has hiked its rates by up to one percentage point. And with the ECB [European Central Bank] having increased rates by another 0.5 of a percentage point in December, and almost guaranteed to hike rates by a similar amount in February, more hikes from all lenders are likely to follow.’