Are the banks offering better home-loan deals to customers?
As the property market stabilises and lending activity recovers, are banks offering better home-loan deals to customers, asks John Cradden
Frank Conway of Irish Mortgage Review concedes that the general market is getting "a little bit more competitive", but is keen to put this recovery into some perspective.
"Even if lending activity and the number of units drawn down rose 50pc over the 2014 levels, when 20,000 mortgages were granted for a property purchase, this would still be equal to 1987 levels.
"So yes, lending activity is recovering but we have to remember that lending did drop 90pc from peak levels of 2006 and the drop was one of historic proportions."
A sign that lenders are cranking up their mortgage offerings is the number of sweeteners being added, such as offers to pay between €1-2k off any legal fees associated with buying new homes or switching mortgages (Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank and KBC), discounts on home insurance (KBC) and even 2pc cashback (Bank of Ireland).
AIB recently announced that it would offer unconditional fee-free banking for new and existing mortgage customers.
John Cradden, Irish Independent Download the article
