Stockbroker Davy says a survey it has carried out indicates that banks are making more attractive mortgage offers to customers. But the survey also showed that banks were discriminating more against apartments, and also looking for more detailed information from applicants.
Davy carried out a 'mystery shopping' exercise, in the first case as a 27-year-old single first-time buyer earnings €60,000. In the second case, the example was a couple of the same age with the same income split between the two.
The stockbroker said the average offer for the single person was 7.8 times disposable income, compared with seven times in its survey last summer. The offer for a couple rose from 6.3 times to 6.5 times disposable income.
Davy says the offers were more attractive than it would have expected, perhaps due to political pressure on banks. But it says more affordable interest repayments suggest that banks are not passing on the full benefit of interest rate cuts in the amounts they will offer. Davy says repayments as a percentage of disposable income have fallen by more than 30% over a year.
The stockbroker points out that its exercise involved only enquiries, and that it is aware of anecdotal evidence contradicting its findings.
