Ireland tops in terms of mortgage rates in the eurozone again, according to a new report by the Central Bank of Ireland. The average interest rate on a new mortgage in the country now stands at 2.73%, while the eurozone average is just 1.28%, says the report.
Greece comes on the second spot with a rate of 2.58 followed by Latvia with 2.54% mortgage rate.
In the 19-country eurozone, Finland has the lowest mortgage rate, which is only 0.71%. Portugal also records a lower rate of just 0.80%.
The report can also be viewed as a reflection of the prevalent housing demand and crisis in Ireland. Meanwhile the rate has shown a decline of 0.9% compared to last year. Also, the current mortgage rate is lowest since 2017.
Permanent TSB holds most of the mortgages in Ireland but many other lenders like Avant Money and ICS had reduced their rates remarkably in recent months. This has put pressure on bigger lenders like PTSB also to follow the trend. This might be a reason for the decline of mortgage rates from last year.