Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

Overview of Banking Sector: Permanent TSB

2:35 pm

Mr. Ger Mitchell:

It is relatively low. A number of points must be borne in mind. Not everybody on a tracker mortgage wants to move. Also, the time involved in buying and selling a property in the Irish market today is approximately 150 days. Therefore, the time lag from getting approval through to payout is a couple of months. Another point is that there is a difference in the timing between those in positive equity and those in negative equity. Naturally, those in positive equity are far more nimble and agile in terms of being able to move. In our view, we are ahead of where we thought we would be when launching the product, because it is a longer run play.