New mortgage customers need "significantly higher incomes" compared to the past, according to a new report from the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI).
The latest mortgage report found the median total household income for First-Time Buyer (FTB) borrowers jumped from €71,000 in 2019 to €77,000 in 2021.
Compared to 2009 figures, 51 per cent of households applying for a FTB mortgage earned up to €60,000 13 years ago, dropping to just 13 per cent last year.
For mover purchase mortgages, 28 per cent earned up to €60,000 in 2008, falling to 7 per cent in 2021.
The BPFI's chief executive Brian Hayes said the figures illustrate that new mortgage customers "now need higher incomes than in the past to purchase a home".
Location
The report also found that the vast majority of borrowers (82.5 per cent) buy or build in the county in which they live, 81.4 per cent of whom build or buy in their own county.
However, the Dublin commuter belt was a notable exception to this, with Dublin borrowers representing 30-32 per cent of FTB mortgages and 17-24 per cent of mover purchase mortgages for properties in counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.
Dublin represented the largest share (30.6 per cent) of home purchase mortgages in 2021, followed by Cork (11.4 per cent), Galway (4.7 per cent) and Limerick (3.7 per cent).
Wicklow, meanwhile, had the highest median basic household incomes, monthly repayments (excluding self-builds), loan values and property values, while the South and Midwest had the lowest median mover purchase loan value (€194,500).
The South and Midwest regions had the highest percentage of mortgages financing self-builds, accounting for 78 per cent new properties, while the West had the lowest median FTB mortgage repayment in the country for existing properties, totalling €687.
