New figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland reveal that a total of 3,340 mortgages were approved in April.
This marked a 11.7% year-on-year increase, but was a decrease of 11.6% on a monthly basis.
Today's figures show that 1,819 - or 54.5% of the total volume of mortgage approvals - were for first-time buyers while mover purchasers accounted for 980 or 29.3%.
Meanwhile, the value of mortgages approved in April was €685m, up by almost 20% on a yearly basis and by 12.5% compared to the previous month.
53.4% of this was accounted for by first-time buyers and 33.9% by mover purchasers.
Re-mortgage or switching approvals grew on a year-on-year basis with activity accounting for 8.2% of the value and 7.3% of the volume of mortgages, the figures also showed.
The average mortgage approved actually fell back slightly on the month from €207,100 in March to €205,100, but that was still up 7.2% on the year.
For first-time buyers, the average approval was €201,100, up 5.7% on the year but down from €205,600 in March.
For mover-purchasers, the average approval was €236,600, up 8.6% on the year.
