New figures from the Central Bank show that Irish mortgage rates resumed their upward trend in March, after moving fractionally lower in February.
The average interest rate on a new mortgage rose to 3.54% in March, up from 2.92% in February and hitting the highest level since the middle of 2017.
The euro zone average mortgage interest rate rose to 3.52% in March - almost three times the rate it was around 18 months ago.
But despite the big increase in March, Irish mortgage rates are still among the lowest mortgage rates in the euro zone with only France and Malta having lower rates.
Today's Central Bank figures also show that the average interest rate on new fixed rate mortgage agreements, which make 89% of the total new mortgage agreements, was 3.44%, an increase of 61 basis point from February and 84 basis points higher than the same time last year.
The total volume of pure new mortgage deals amounted to €732m in March, a 31% decrease on the previous month, and an increase of 9% on the same time last year.
Meanwhile, renegotiated mortgages totalled €427m in March, up from €412m recorded in February.
Commenting on today's figures, Daragh Cassidy, Head of Communications at mortgage broker bonkers.ie, said the increase in lending rates that has been seen in Ireland over the past few months is finally starting to show up in the Central Bank figures.
Mr Cassidy said that since last July, the ECB has hiked rates by 3.75 percentage points.
But the main banks have only hiked their fixed rates by around 1.5 to 2 percentage points on average, while variable rates have hardly moved at all, he said.
"However this 'generosity' has largely come at the expense of savers. Savings rates in Ireland are still miserable," he added.
"The best rate from the Irish banks is just 1.5% with Permanent TSB. And Bank of Ireland only pays a maximum of 0.75%. However deposit rates over 3% are now widely available in Europe," he pointed out.
Prospective mortgage holders and those on trackers in particular are being warned that the medium-term outlook is for rates to go much higher over the coming months.
"The ECB is likely to hike its main lending rate, off which trackers and mortgage rates are priced, to 4% when it next meets in June, and it'll probably hit 4.25% by the end of the summer," Mr Cassidy said.
"This means the average tracker customer will soon be paying a rate of around 5.5% while the best rate available to prospective first-time buyers will be similar," he added.
