Ireland continues to have the joint highest mortgage interest rates across the euro area in March, new figures from the Central Bank show.
The weighted average interest rate on new Irish mortgages was 2.79% in March 2021, down one basis point on March of last year.
Greece also had a rate of 2.79% in March.
The average mortgage interest rate for the euro area stood at 1.26% in March, although the rate varied considerably across countries.
Today's figures show that the average interest rate on new fixed rate mortgage was 2.63% in March, a decrease of 2 basis points from the previous month. Fixed rate mortgages accounted for 81% of new agreements over the month, the Central Bank noted.
For new variable rate mortgage agreements, the average interest rate stood at 3.49% in March. This is up eight basis points from the previous month, although the Central Bank said that volatility of volumes remained high.
The volume of new mortgage agreements came to €678m in March, an increase of just 1% on the same month last year and a 10% increase compared with February.
Today's figures also show that renegotiated mortgages amounted to €267m in March, down 10% on the previous month.
The average interest rate for all renegotiated mortgages was 2.82% in March, the Central Bank added.
