Mortgage arrears on the decline in Leitrim, new report finds

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer, Joe Brady of REA Brady Auctioneers, Carrick-on-Shannon said that house buyers are thinking long and hard before they buy. "I think that buyers are being more conservative because the generation before them got such a scalding. The banks aren't over lending, generally speaking; they're staying within their means. People aren't getting into situations where people are mortgaging one property off another or going 92 per cent loan to value like all that craziness we had before."

The report on arrears, The Mortgage Arrears Review for 2024, is a new annual initiative arising from the recommendations of the Mortgage Arrears Review Group.

READ MORE: Over 100 Council houses in Leitrim damaged by Storm Éowyn, meeting hears

Mr Brady continued that the market has changed substantially over the last number of years. "It would have gone from a cash market ten years ago where numbers were very depressed and mortgages were less available to a situation now where it's around 30 per cent cash and 70 per cent mortgage on average. 

"However, we are not seeing situations where people are struggling to get 10 per cent together; for the greater part, they have deposits that are well in excess of 10 per cent. The buying power is good but they are quite religious about it and are not throwing every euro they possibly could at a house; people seem very conscious of not exceeding their abilities or creating a situation where there might be a problem there later on."

He added: "I haven't seen any new distressed mortgage situations at all. Any ones that we are seeing are still ones that are hanging over from 2008 which is crazy."

READ MORE: Forestry battle: Leitrim makes most forestry license appeals in county

He said that the biggest issue currently facing the mortgage market is the lack of lenders. "The Irish market compared to any other Euro-dominated market that's developed, we're paying at least half a per cent and more often, one percent more on our mortgages. 

Before the property crash, we had Ulster Bank, AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, EBS, First Active, KBC, Danske Bank - there were maybe ten lenders in the market and the margin they were working on was one per cent. 

Now we're back to AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB and that's pretty much it. It's a very small market; the margin on lending is off the charts v the European peers."

READ MORE: Small hands, big impact: Leitrim primary school wins Nature Hero award

In terms of the types of houses that people are buying, he noted, "people are buying everything from cottages in need of repair to big detached houses worth €500,000. We are still in a market that's below value versus everything around us and selling houses below the cost of construction. We see young couples who get planning and get the price from the builder and realise it's cheaper to buy something. We find if we price something correctly and don't look for too much, it goes very quickly and we have buyers who are locally based and from outside the area. That generation that went to Canada, Australia and the Middle East. They are now 30 and coming home and having a family."