Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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116. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to help young home purchasers gain mortgage approval in view of the fact that there has been a massive drop in approvals since the start of 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15408/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will know that, in the immediate aftermath of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, there was a significant decline in the level of mortgage approvals. However, this was reversed in the latter part of last year with BPFI data indicating that the number and value of mortgage approvals for each month since September at their the highest level compared to the same month in any year since the BPFI started publishing such monthly data in 2011. Therefore, while the level of mortgage approvals in 2020 as a whole was somewhat lower when compared to 2019, the decline was not as large as could have initially been expected in the immediate aftermath of the onset of the pandemic.

This significant pick up in the level of mortgage approvals since last September has been maintained in the first two months of 2021, with the number of mortgage approvals 3.3% higher than the first two months of 2020 and the value of those approvals almost 10% higher. The BPFI data also indicates that a little over half of the mortgage approvals so far in 2021 were for first time buyers.