{"id":595900,"date":"2026-08-17T10:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T10:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/595900\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T10:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T10:14:10","slug":"mortgage-top-ups-at-a-16-year-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/595900\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortgage top ups at a 16 year high"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mortgage switching service Doddl.ie is warning that mortgage top ups are at a 16 year high.<\/p>\n<p>Top ups for home improvements, taken automatically by home owners from their own lender, could cost them thousands, according to the service&#8217;s quarterly Mortgage Switching Index, which it conducts in conjuction with the Irish Independent.<\/p>\n<p>It shows that an increasing number of households are choosing to stay put rather than move home, because of the shortage of suitable properties available.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s led to a rise in borrowing, including top-up mortgages, as people look to make the most of what they have.<\/p>\n<p>The figures show that mortgage switching has increased almost 25% in value year-on-year, reaching its highest level since records began in 2003.<\/p>\n<p>While the average switcher mortgage has risen to \u20ac309,666 in Q2.<\/p>\n<p>Doddl.ie is advising people to shop around the entire market rather than simply going to their existing bank for a top up loan.<\/p>\n<p>It points out that the work involved in getting a mortgage top up, even from your existing bank, is on a par with what you have to do for an entire new mortgage.<\/p>\n<p>Applicants still need to gather all the paperwork, the salary certs, the valuations, and any other documentation requested.<\/p>\n<p>The switching service says there&#8217;s a potential gap of more than three percentage points between the highest and lowest rates on the market, so home ownerslooking to borrow more could be losing money by not switching.<\/p>\n<p>On a mortgage of \u20ac358,212, the difference between the highest and lowest rates equates to approximately \u20ac642 a month or \u20ac7,706 a year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mortgage holders are making a mistake by sticking with their current lender to fund home renovations before researching the market,&#8221; cautions Martina Hennessy, CEO of doddl.ie.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When someone wants to borrow for an extension, they are often focused on &#8216;can I get \u20ac80,000?&#8217; rather than \u2018what is the cheapest way to finance this?\u2019&#8221; said Ms Hennessy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many mortgage holders see a top-up as an administrative task rather than an opportunity to review their mortgage terms and potentially save on interest.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This can mean overlooking whole of market options and savings that can be made on the full outstanding mortgage. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The switching process is one where the mortgage holder is in control, there is no home purchase involved, it is a transaction to move your mortgage from one lender to another to save on interest.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mortgage switching service Doddl.ie is warning that mortgage top ups are at a 16 year high. Top ups&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-595900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}