Mortgage rates ‘pop’ fears of bubble

While there was an unprecedented 36% rise in mortgage applications last year, 85% of them were for main homes and 12% for investment property.
The central bank said all categories of earners were involved and 10% were earning under €20,000 a year.

In all, €137billion of lending was at rates averaging 1.5% in late 2016. Importantly, that meant buyers had had to give over far less of their pay to be able to afford the property, just 24% on average.