The Central Bank says mortgage lending was particularly weak in March, while overall lending growth in the economy fell to its lowest level in more than 15 years.
Its monthly credit figures also show that people's spending using credit cards in the first three months of this year was 16% lower than a year earlier.
The Central Bank says there was an increase of just €20m in mortgage lending during March, a figure it describes as 'historically low'. For the first three months of this year, the rise in total mortgage lending was €428m, a huge drop from the €2.6 billion recorded in the same period last year.
The annual rate of growth in residential mortgage lending fell to 4.2% from 4.9% in February. The bank said general economic conditions and expectations of further falls in house prices were dampening demand for mortgages, while banks were also tightening up on lending.
Total lending in the economy fell by €3.9 billion in March, wiping out increases in the first two months of the year. The annual growth rate for private credit fell from 4.8% in February to 2.3%, the lowest since January 1994.
The rate for non-mortgage lending dropped from 12.2% in February to 8.3%. The annual rate of increase in credit card debt fell from 8.6% in March last year to 1.1%.
