New figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland show that mortgage approvals continued to move higher in October on an annual basis.
Over 3,300 mortgages were approved on average in the three months to the end of October, up 28.9% on a yearly basis.
But the figure was down 2.6% month on month due to the seasonal pattern of approvals.
The BPFI figures show that first-time buyers and mover purchase volumes grew by 24.2% and 30.8% on a yearly basis.
Meanwhile, the value of mortgage approvals jumped by 40.9% and a total of €654m in mortgages was approved in the three months to the end of October.
First-time buyers accounted for 44.7% of this figure.
The average purchase mortgage approval has risen significantly in recent months and peaked at €208,467 in the three months to the end of July.
The BPFI noted that the average first time buyers mortgage has grown more than twice as fast as the average mover-purchase mortgage since October 2014 - 11.4% compared to 5.5%.
Commenting on today's figures, Goodbody economist Dermot O'Leary said that the Goverment's help-to-buy scheme and the recent loosening of the Central Bank's mortgage rules will help support mortgage demand.
But he added it was clear than mortgage demand was already picking up in advance of those policy developments.
