Total Mortgage lending for 2017 rose to to €7.286 billion, an increase of 28.8% on the previous year.

That’s according to new figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland which show that a total of 34,798 mortgages were issued last year, up 18% on 2016.

The figures also pointed to continued growth in mortgage activity in the final three months of last year.

A total of 10,350 new mortgages for house buying were drawn down in the final Quarter of last year, up 13.5% in volume terms compared to the previous year.

The combined value of those mortgages came in at €2.23 billion, up almost a quarter on the third quarter.

The BPFI noted that first time buyers remained the single biggest segment of the housing market – 50.7% – and by value – 49.8%.

First time buyers and mover-purchasers accounted for almost 85% of of the total value of mortgages drawn down.

It also said that the volume and value of switching continued to increase with 985 re-mortgage loans issued in the fourth quarter of 2017. This represented quarterly growth of 26.8% and year on year growth of 15.7%.