New figures from the Central Bank today show that Irish mortgage rates fell to their lowest level in over a year in September.
The Central Bank said that mortgage rates eased to 4.08% in September from 4.11% in August.
Irish mortgage rates are now the joint sixth highest in the euro zone, where the average rate is 3.59%.
Mortgage rates vary hugely across the euro zone and range from as low as 1.76% in Malta to as high as 5.28% in Latvia.
Today's Cental Bank figures show that the total volume of pure new mortgage agreements increased from €851m in August to €930m in September, which marked a 9% hike in monthly terms and a 30% increase from the same time last year.
Meanwhile, interest rates on household overnight deposits remained at 0.13% in September for the ninth month in a row, the Central Bank said today.
It said the weighted average interest rate on new household deposits with agreed maturity increased by a basis point to 2.63% in September compared to the equivalent euro zone rate of 2.98%.
It noted that the level of new business in this category was €1.2 billion, an 8% increase from the previous month and a 31% jump from September 2023.
Commenting on today's figures, Daragh Cassidy, Head of Communications at bonkers.ie, said that mortgage rates continue to inch downwards and are now almost a quarter of a point lower than their recent high at the start of the year.
But he noted that rates are falling more slowly in Ireland compared to the rest of the euro zone.
"Attention turns again to what the ECB will do at its final monetary policy meeting of the year in December. At the moment there's a good chance it will cut rates by another quarter of a percentage point to leave its main policy rate at 3%," he said.
Further cuts are expected next year, he added.
"This will feed through into lower mortgage rates in Ireland over the coming months. Come early next year the average rate should be back under 4% for the first time since the spring of 2023," he predicted.
But Mr Cassidy said there are also losers to falling interest rates.
"Deposit rates are going to start falling too. Online banks Revolut and N26 have both recently cut their rates - the latter for the second time," he said.
But there has been little movement from the main Irish banks so far, he added.
Mr Cassidy pointed out that Irish households currently have over €150 billion resting on deposit, with the majority of that money still in accounts that pay little to no interest.
He also noted that falling mortgage rates are also likely to inflate an already overheated property market.
