New figures from the Central Bank of Ireland show that mortgage interest rates here increased again in April.
The average rate on a new mortgage in Ireland was up to 3.63%, from 3.54% the previous month.
Rates rose in most Eurozone countries, but fell in Malta, Germany and Slovenia.
The Eurozone average rose to 3.57%, almost three times the rate it was two years ago.
"The increase in lending rates that we've seen in Ireland over the past few months is now showing up in the Central Bank figures," said Daragh Cassidy, Head of Communications at mortgage broker bonkers.ie says
"However our mortgage rates are still among the lowest in the Eurozone. For now at least.
"This is because the main banks have been so slow at passing on the ECB rate increases to their mortgage customers," he added.
Since last July, the ECB has hiked rates by 3.75 percentage points, with another 0.25 percentage point hike likely to come when the ECB meets tomorrow.
"The banks have only hiked their fixed rates by around 1.5 to 2 percentage points on average - and variable rates have hardly moved at all," Mr Cassidy said.
Today's Central Bank figures show that 89% of new mortgages were made up of fixed rates.
The average fixed rate was 3.54%, an increase of 10 basis point from March and 95 basis points higher on an annual basis.
The total volume of new mortgage agreements amounted to €797 million in April, a 9% rise on the previous month, and an increase of 32% in annual terms.
