New house rules: call f or greater education of mortgage applicants

Mortgages issued in 2013 were smaller, as banks kept a tight rein on lending , writes Ken Murray.

According to the Irish Banking Federation (IBF), the official body tasked with collating Ireland's mortgage data, the total value of new mortgage lending in the third quarter of 2013 was €750 million, which is less than a tenth of what it was in 2007.

However, this data does not tell the full story, as there is general consensus among industry experts that the volumes at the peak were too high. The optimum size ...