New figures from the Central Bank said the weighted average interest rate on new Irish mortgages at the end of February rose slightly to 3.51%, up from 3.5% in January and down 28 basis points from the same month last year.
Today’s figures show that the equivalent euro area average was 3.41%.
The Central Bank noted that the weighted average rate in Ireland exceeded the euro area average by 10 basis points – the smallest difference since November 2023.
Irish mortgage rates are now the seventh highest in the euro area.
Latvia had the highest average new mortgage rates in January with a rate of 3.92%, followed by Estonia and Germany at 3.78%.
Malta continued to have the lowest rate at 1.96%, followed by Bulgaria at 2.44% and Spain with an average mortgage rate of 2.76%.
The Central Bank said the weighted average interest rate on new fixed rate mortgage agreements, which constitute 91% of the volume of new mortgage deals, was 3.46% in February, 2 basis points higher than the previous month and down 14 basis points from the same time last year.
Meanwhile, the weighted average interest rate on new variable rate mortgage agreements was 4.09% in February, unchanged from January and 33 basis points lower in annual terms.
The total volume of pure new mortgage agreements increased to €792m in February, 2% higher than the same time last year.